The Rehabilitation of Pitch Black
by MaireadSystem
Summary: Jack realizes that the Boogeyman isn't gone for good, and has a new plan for dealing with him. Told from Jack's POV. No pairings. Tie-ins with the book series—some spoilers.
1. Who I Am

_A note from Eren:_

 _Jack Frost was in the house the morning after we saw the movie at a friend's. I honestly expected him to show up in the car on the drive home, but I guess it took a little time for his character to settle in. If this sounds completely bizarre to you, I recommend that you go read the Mairead System profile before you go any further._

 _In any case, we got to looking at the fan fiction that is out there, and with some tacit prompting from Mairead, Jack started to form a hypothesis about Pitch Black. I strongly advised him not to act on his idea, but he wouldn't listen. I told him, "At least tell someone where you're going." After scarcely a moment's thought he answered, "No. They'll try to stop me."_

 _For selfish reasons (as well as genuine concern), I didn't want him to go. Jack was a new friend who acted my age, if he wasn't_ actually _my age, and I was afraid that he might disappear back into his own world and never come back to visit. But he left when we were asleep and came back before we returned from a trip that took up all morning. I convinced him to type up his little adventure, and here we are. This is his first shot posting anything, so be nice. ^^_

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CHAPTER ONE: Who I Am

As Eren said, I left for my own world once the others (Eren, Levi and Vin) had fallen asleep. It was good to be back, just to confirm the fact that I _could_ go back, and to sense the familiarity of my reality. The wind greeted me as an old friend and it was tempting to forget my purpose in coming back and spend the early morning hours in pure recreation. However, I determined not to let my idea go.

Sure, it was a little creepy going back to the fragments of that decaying old bed frame in the woods and down that lumpy, abandoned-feeling tunnel again, but I won't say I was _scared._ I expected some sort of resistance long before I got to the bottom, but there was nothing.

The... burrow, or hollow, or whatever other thing ending in -ow that you want to call it, was dimly lit by an inexplicable, unidentifiable, and imperceptible source. That might sound like overkill, but it's all true. The cages were still there—the ones he used to keep the fairies captive. All empty now, of course. I wondered for the first time if he had made them himself, and if so, of what?

It was too quiet down there. I walked along the floor, not wanting to fly into anything by mistake, and my footsteps had no echo. There was no hollow dripping as you would expect in a cave. Then I heard a little rush of something, like a breeze or a whisper, and turning my gaze toward the noise I saw a blur of darkness that was darker than the darkness around it. A small nightmare, I supposed.

I went further, and the tunnel got smaller. It wasn't shaped the same as the last time I was there. A small, dark door stood to my left, not quite as tall as myself. I was about to kneel to see if anything could be seen through the keyhole, when another dark little rushing came toward me from the far end of the passage and I straightened up, lifting my staff as if it were a prosthetic attachment to my arm, flicking its end out with a certain turn of the wrist I'd been perfecting. Sparks of ice few out of my staff and met the oncoming nightmare. The mist of blue shards and black soot meshed together and rained to the floor with a quiet pattering.

It was then that I heard a little sound from behind the door. It sounded not unlike a whimper. I remembered my previous notion and knelt for a moment, but the interior of the room seemed darker than the passage, and I was too impatient to wait for my vision to adjust. I got up and tried the knob.

I fully expected the door to be locked—I had tried it only as a matter of course—but it opened easily enough with a spine-tingling shriek and a groan. This noise was probably what prompted a second whimper from within the room.

I let the frost crackle out in continuous, feathery patterns through the air to dispel the dimness as I entered the room and stared a moment in confusion at my surroundings. There was a window in the far wall, but it opened on nothing. Nothing but the dirt of the lair's walls which surrounded the place. There was an old bed with worn blankets, and beside it a nightstand with an unlit lamp on it. There was a modest upright dresser painted an uninviting shade, like bottle-green that had been abused severely over many years. At the foot of the bed was a trunk that I instinctively knew should be a toy chest, and across from that was another small door that should have been a closet, open just a tiny, sinister crack. And all around the room rushed those little nightmares, the largest no more than two feet tall.

They pranced all over the bed and bucked at the dull grey curtains wafting on wind that wasn't there, paused to rear up on the toy chest or night stand and slipped in and out of the closet door with such frequency that I could not begin to guess how many of them there truly were altogether. It could be two dozen or two hundred.

The whimpering started up again, quieter. Like the inexplicable light outside, the source of the whimpering was also unknown. It sounded like a child, the which case would confirm my theory (the reason I went down there in the first place), but there seemed to be no one in the room. I lifted my staff and took aim.

Quickly, I turned the frolicking herd of nightmares into a panicking stampede. The room was illuminated in flashes of sparks like the night sky on the fourth of July. Those that escaped took refuge in the closet or poured out of the closed window or scuttled under the bed. When the room was clear I went in further, listening hard.

The sound was not coming from the closet, but from under the bed. It made so much sense that I actually rolled my eyes at my own slowness.

"Pitch," I said breathlessly. I got no answer, so I went closer to the bed and tried again. "It's OK, Pitch. It's me, Jack. I want to help you." I lifted the edge of the blankets and had to brace myself to keep from recoiling or making a panicked sound of my own. There, indeed, was a dark-haired child clad in black and curled up in an absolute _ball_ with half the escaped nightmares parading around him, all of them nipping or kicking their heels up at him. They were small, but they looked like they'd come from a place ruled by the cruelest monsters, of which they were the most cruel of all, where compassion was unknown, or if known, unwanted.

I drew in a shaky breath, readying my staff again, and as I did so, the indulgent party under the bed came to a close. The nightmares turned their attention from the child to me, and I knew I couldn't hesitate anymore.

I won't detail the destruction of these nightmares. Suffice it to say there were some moments when I realized I had underestimated them due to their size, and even feared once or twice that they would get the better of me. And just when I felt confident again, reinforcements arrived fresh from the closet and nearly overwhelmed me all over again. But at last my breath and pulse were the only little rushings in the room.

"Pitch," I said between panting, lifting up the covers again. "They're gone."

The child finally answered me, and I knew my theory was correct: even though the tone was higher and less... well, evil... the accent and cadence made it clear that this was what Pitch Black had been reduced to when children stopped believing in him.

"They'll come back," he said. "Go away."

"I'm not gonna go away," I said. "I'm not scared of them."

"They're not after you."

"You shouldn't be scared either—they're yours. Your... darkness." I grimaced. It wasn't a very cheerful pep talk.

"Go away," he repeated.

I reached over gingerly, hoping not to startle him, located a skinny wrist in the vicinity of his shins, and took hold.

Either I did startle him, or he simply reacted much more violently than either of us was prepared for. He rolled away from me, still in his ball, and growled "Let _go!"_ very fiercely. He'd probably have a sore throat for a while after that.

He was out of my grip again, but I didn't pursue. "Listen, I have an idea."

He let go of his legs and put his hands over his ears. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!" he spat. "Go away!"

"Well, it's because of what you said to me..." He didn't move his hands, but I was pretty sure he was listening anyway. "You were lonely. You wanted friends, right? A family?"

The child Pitch scrunched his eyes shut in an unattractive scowl.

"I was wondering, who were you before you were the Boogeyman?"

He shook his head.

"The Guardians were all someone before they were Guardians... so, I figured you must have been someone, too."

"No one."

"I don't believe you. Even if you didn't remember before, you stole all the teeth. Yours must have been in there, too. You must have found out who you were."

Pitch shook his head stubbornly. "Don't want to know," he said quietly, eyes still shut.

I was a bit at a loss. "Really? Why... why wouldn't you want to know? I was dying to know!"

With another feral growl, Pitch came a bit more uncoiled and flung something at me.

I could see it was another nightmare, barely the size of a kitten. I raised my staff to defend myself, but before it ever reached me it swerved, front hooves showering ash as the hindquarters skittered around like the pencil in a compass. It renewed its charge on Pitch, who curled into his ball again with renewed whimpering. I managed to destroy the nightmare before it could touch him.

"I'm not here to hurt you, Pitch. I want to help," I tried again. "Why don't you want to know who you were?"

He drew in a shaky breath and I leaned forward, sure that I might miss whatever he said next if I didn't give him my full attention. I was glad that I did, because he spoke in a whisper.

"Because of who I am."

* * *

 _To be continued! Probably very soon. I hope. Comments and questions are welcome! ~Jack  
_


	2. Things Were Going So Well

_Lots of people reading already! Thanks, and thanks for the review. I used to tell my sister stories but I didn't think of writing them down before. Anyway, I hope you like the next part. ~Jack_

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CHAPTER TWO: Things Were Going So Well

"What do you mean?" I asked. Maybe I was having a slow moment. I don't know.

"You," Pitch said, sounding like he was being made to eat spinach, "you were always this way. I know what the teeth reminded you of. You were already a Guardian."

"Well..."

"You know what that means? I was always meant to be the Boogeyman. Someone people hate and fear. Only now they don't even do that. They ignore me or laugh at me. Who must I have been before, to end up like this?"

He had a point. I have to admit, I was blindsided. I was so sure that his old memories would make Pitch want to have friends again that I hadn't paused to consider that his past might be as bleak as his present.

I let the covers fall and leaned back against the bed. "But... you don't know that," I persisted, but I sounded weak even to myself. I reached up to turn the lamp on, hoping some light would help the situation, but nothing happened when I pushed the switch. I looked up and saw that the bulb was broken. Tiny glass shards littered the bedside table, some ground almost into powder, with tiny hoofprints trailing through the mess.

"Come out from under there, Pitch," I said.

"No. Go away."

I sighed. It seemed force was necessary. I moved quickly, lifting the edge of the blankets and making my grab, succeeding in getting hold of an ankle this time and dragging him out before he could land a kick to my hand with his other foot.

"Let me go!" he shrieked with that cringe-worthy, throat-tearing timber that only a child mid-tantrum can produce.

"I'm just trying to help!" I protested, getting annoyed now.

"You don't want to help me! You all want to destroy me! I know!"

He really sounded like a little kid now. It made me sad to be misunderstood—but I figured he might very well feel the same way.

"That's not true." I tried to pull him to the middle of the room so he couldn't get hold of the bed and pull himself back under.

He started kicking and clawing at me, even biting one of my wrists at one point. Well, I let him go, but I grabbed my staff and pulled up a wave of ice between him and the bed, cold stalagmites or upside-down icicles, whichever you prefer, effectively barring his way.

"No!" he exclaimed, sounding hysterical. He turned toward the closet, but I sent snow flurrying around him until it hardened into a cylinder of ice. "Let me go! Let me go!"

"Calm down," I said, trying to sound light-hearted. "How am I supposed to help you if you keep running back to the darkness. Don't you know that's where the nightmares will find you?"

He clawed at the ice walls with his nails, shadowed eyes full of hate. "At least I know they're there. Not waiting and wondering." He threw himself against the ice, but it held.

"Tell you what. I'm going to go ask Tooth for your teeth. I'll bring them back here, and then we can talk about this."

"NO!" I thought he sounded hysterical before; this was ten times the panic. "You can't tell anyone you're coming here! They'll come back to finish me off! Look at me! I'm nothing! I'm nothing..." He choked on it the second time.

I felt really bad, but I was sure he couldn't be more wrong. "You don't know Tooth like I do. She's really nice. Anyway, maybe I can get your teeth without having to tell her about it. We'll see. Just let me take care of it."

"I don't trust you! You'll ruin everything."

"The way I see it, you don't have much to lose." I started to turn away, still feeling guilty. He did look pretty pathetic and I hate to see any kid that upset, even if he was a super evil adult villain just a little while ago. Adult evil super villain. Villain super-evil adult. Sorry, I had to try those out. I like my original order.

"Jack."

I stopped and looked back.

He was standing with one hand against the ice. After a moment, he sat on the floor, hand trailing down the curved wall. "I'm cold," he said.

That issue hadn't occurred to me either. _I'm really not with it today..._ I walked back toward him, looked at him, looked at the bed. There was barely room in his little prison for him to sit down. If I threw a blanket in, it might suffocate him. I sighed and pulled my hoodie off over my head. "No crying while I'm gone," I said firmly. "I don't want you getting snot on my sweatshirt."

"Shut up."

I managed not to laugh when it landed on his head. He put it on and it was too big. He left the sleeves hanging past his hands and pulled his knees up to his chest underneath the main section of the hoodie. The hood concealed all but his stubborn chin. I again managed not to laugh.

"I'll be back soon. Everything will be all right—I promise."

"No, it won't," he said. But he sounded resigned now, not hysterical.

I shook my head and walked out of the little room, barely ducking in time under the low doorway. If he noticed, he managed not to laugh.

* * *

Eren speculates that while I was gone, Pitch probably got very bored, worried a lot, called me names, tried to escape and eventually snuggled down in my hoodie, taking comfort in its warmth and good smell. Apparently I smell like a winter night just before a snowfall, with a hint of evergreen. I do like flying through the woods, and it does smell nice and fresh, so that's probably why.

Whatever Pitch found to do while I was gone, I went straight to Tooth's headquarters. The tooth business is, of course, a twenty-four/seven job. About four kids are born every second. That right there is insane. Every kid normally loses twenty teeth during his childhood. So... If we can assume that most of those kids survive long enough to lose their teeth (and if I'm calculating this correctly), that means Tooth and her fairies have to collect teeth every minute of every hour of every day. I participated in collecting just one night, and I thought I was doing really well... When you look at the numbers it sure clears things up a lot.

Needless to say, the place was busy as usual. For some reason though, I wasn't able to just slip in unnoticed. The lines of fairies started humming right away as I approached, and before long Tooth herself came out to meet me.

"Jack," she called, and as my eyes met hers, her gaze shifted down for a split second and then she looked back up at me, her happy grin turning into a sheepish, blushing smile instead. "Uh... Jack... where's your... uh..."

I realized she was wondering what I'd done with my hoodie. "Oh, that. I, uh... I loaned it to a kid because I kind of... made him too cold."

Her embarrassment melted away in what I believe is called a "squee." (Eren says that's right. He says boys almost never squee. Girls do it a lot. Whatever.) "Aww, that is so sweet," she gushed, meeting me in the air. "If you need something to wear in the meantime, we can figure something out... Oh! I know—we'll make a jacket for you to take back to the kid."

"Um, sure," I said, deciding that giving her something distracting to do couldn't hurt.

"Great! I'll put it on the itinerary. So... just passing by?"

She was looking at me kind of funny, but not suspiciously. More like she wanted to ask something else and was holding back.

"Do you want to look at my teeth?" I asked.

"What? Well... if you're offering."

And then she was pulling my mouth open, peering inside and babbling about how white my teeth were. I know, it's weird, but you learn to find it endearing.

"Sho," I said, mouth still propped open, "I wuzh wonduh-ing..."

"Oh, sorry," she said, letting go of my face with a giggle. "What were you saying?"

I thought quickly, and it's sad how easily I decided to resort to trickery instead of trusting my friend not to freak out on me. "That kid I mentioned... there's something important he needs to remember."

"And you want his teeth!" she surmised immediately. "I'll get them for you. What's his name?"

This was going to be tricky. "Oh, are your teeth catalogued alphabetically?"

"Yes, but by age first. We don't get much call for the memory of anyone over say, a hundred and ten, so it makes it much easier to find the current ones that way."

"Oh, I see."

"So, how old is he?"

"I'm not sure _exactly,"_ I hedged, still technically not lying.

"Well, you know, it's likely that a fairy has already noticed his tooth case trying to get some attention. That happens when you need a memory badly."

I knew that wouldn't be true of Pitch's tooth case because he didn't _want_ to remember. "I don't think he wants to remember until I get back," I said quickly, starting to get proud of the cleverness of my half-truths. "I told him I'd bring it back, so... he's waiting for me."

"Ah. Well, next time you can leave it to us, but I think it's really, really nice that you want to help him." She was practically skipping along in the air, dragging me by one hand.

"Tooth, can I ask you something?" I said, planning the conversation out carefully as I went.

"Sure." She sounded happy to answer whatever I might care to ask.

"How old is Bunnymund?"

Tooth laughed. "I don't know. A couple of thousand years would be my guess." She glanced at me shyly. "I'm older than him. Can you believe it?"

"You sure don't look it," I said, flashing my teeth at her. What? It was for a good cause.

She seemed happy with my answer. "I'm even older than North!" she confided. "I'm not sure about Sandy. I never asked, and it's hard to talk about things like that with him. What with his... unique communication."

"Heh, I know what you mean." I tried to sound casual as I asked, "What about Pitch Black? How old is he?"

As I feared, her carefree expression turned solemn. "I don't know," she said. "He might be as old as me... he might not."

I decided to try a mischievous tone. "Did you ever take a look at _his_ baby teeth? I bet they were all pointy like vampire fangs!"

"Jack!" She half giggled, but her eyes still seemed guarded. "You know, I... never really thought about his teeth. I don't really like to think about it, actually."

I couldn't help being disappointed. I couldn't really push the topic any further without getting her suspicious. "Well, you're really busy," I said. "Especially if you meant it about making that jacket. I think I can find the teeth I need on my own."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I don't want to interrupt the flow of things. Just have someone find me when the jacket is done, OK?"

She agreed. "What size should we make it?"

"Um... about half my size, I guess."

She looked me over critically and then her blush started all over again. "O-OK," she stuttered. "I'll see you later, then."

"Yup." I grinned as I headed toward the tooth catalogue. Then I remembered Pitch in my hoodie and laughed out loud.

I went back to a section that might as well have been labelled "Old As the Hills" and began my search. The one good thing about having to start so far back was that the population of the world was much smaller then. Also, the fairies had little markers on the shelf for quick recognition: First name initial (and last, if applicable), male or female, country of origin. I hurried from shelf to shelf, quickly working my way along, confident that I would be back in the Boogeyman's lair in no time. Thanks to my clever subterfuge. Things were going so well.

* * *

 _I'd better leave off there_ — _this chapter is getting long. I didn't think it would take this long to tell what happened! xp I'm planning to go back again tonight if I'm not too tired. So I want to finish typing up what's already happened before more stuff happens. Again, feel free to question or comment! ~Jack  
_


	3. Sunset In the Morning

_So many people in so many countries have looked at the first two chapters already! It's like looking at North's globe and seeing all the believing children—it's wonderful! ^_^ Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you think._

 _Thank you for your reviews, bluefrosty27!_

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CHAPTER THREE: Sunset In the Morning

Not that _everything_ was about to go wrong, mind you. I actually did find Pitch's teeth. It was uncanny looking at his picture on the end of the case and seeing a boy who looked a lot like the pitiful child I had left underground in my hoodie. OK, that was a weird sentence.

I figured out how to handle taking leave of Tooth. I told her, "Well, I found the teeth I need, so I'll be going..." and then before she could ask what the kid's name was again, or to see the case, I pretended to suddenly get distracted by the jacket they had made. "Oh my gosh, did you make that?" I asked, holding out my hands for the colorful article.

"Yeah..." Tooth giggled. "Well, me and the fairies, of course. We decked it out with actual fairy feathers! Do you think he'll like it?"

We were back on the subject of the kid again, so I had to think fast. "Yeah, it's perfect! I can't wait to get it to him. That and get my hoodie back," I added, giving her a big smile.

Sure enough, she seemed captivated by my teeth again. "OK, well come back any time!" she said. "Oh, and don't forget to return the teeth!"

"I won't," I said quickly. Great. I'd have to somehow keep her from seeing the case again when I brought it back. Well, one issue at a time.

I flew back to Pitch's lair faster than I had flown away. The sun was up now. I think it was mid-morning. If time was the same in both worlds, then Levi and Eren and Vin were probably up and wondering where I was. I should go back soon and let them know I was all right. And maybe brag that I had been right about Pitch's situation.

I hurried back to the little door and opened it awkwardly with the hand holding the tooth case (the other had the jacket and my staff). I had a little spell of déjà vu when I heard whimpering and rushing, but this time there was an unsettling scratching and tapping as well.

As my frost began illuminating the room again, I saw that my ice cylinder, though starting to melt at the edges, was still quite solid. And inside it, swirling over and around the whimpering ball of blue and silver hoodie was a glorified blender full of nightmare smoothie.

"Pitch," I cried involuntarily. I dropped the jacket and tooth case and lifted my staff, not sure what action to take. If I smashed the ice, Pitch might get hurt.

He had heard me and lifted his head a little, though I couldn't see his eyes. "Jack," he called piteously. "I can't fly! I can't fly!"

Of course, he couldn't. He was in such a tender, weakened state, it was amazing he had put up even a normal kid-sized fight for me earlier. I had known he couldn't do anything supernatural, or climb the slick walls. But I hadn't counted on the nightmares going over the top of it. Why hadn't I made the ice go all the way to the ceiling? Well, he had to breathe, after all...

All those thoughts raced through my head in an instant as I said "I know" despairingly. "I'm sorry."

"Do something!"

Again, I raised my staff. This was my ice, after all. I formed it, I could take it down again. I wasn't confident enough to try to melt it all on the spot—that was something I hadn't worked on yet. I could shatter it, but that could easily hurt Pitch, so I decided to split it in two.

It worked... sort of. A crack zigzagged down about two thirds of the way, and a big chunk slid off to the side and thudded on the floor before toppling over and smashing into pieces. Now I could aim at individual nightmares, and I was confident enough from our previous encounter that day that I could hit them accurately with little risk. They came at me, but I took out the ones still afflicting Pitch first. I owed him that. It was my fault he'd been trapped with them in such close quarters.

They didn't really hurt me... it's not easy to describe how they effect you when they attack. I knew they were just leaderless piles of spiteful black sand, but every nip and kick tore at my spirit. My guilt was making me doubt myself. My doubt was making me worry. My worry was making me afraid. My fear was drawing them in. I missed a shot and hit the remaining standing ice, but fortunately this served only to knock another chunk off and it fell harmlessly to the opposite side from the first.

I was angry with myself for missing, and the cycle began all over again. Finally, I decided to risk the unknown and try to melt what was left of Pitch's prison, though I think he could have climbed out of it then, if he would stop cowering long enough to try. I reduced a couple more nightmares to dust and then turned my staff on the ice again. I tried to do almost the opposite of what I had done to form the ice. I guess if you want to get all technical, I was pulling moisture from the air and multiplying it and expanding and freezing it... so I just tried to do whatever that was backward. But there wasn't much technical about it. It's a gut thing.

The good thing is, it worked. Well enough, anyway. The last section of ice turned into a round _splash_ and then leaped up to chase down the nightmares, refreezing on the way and taking them out. Finally we were alone again, with nothing but dust, spangles and some large chunks of ice to show for our trouble. Oh yes, and Pitch was soaked.

He looked around, shaking harder than I'd ever seen anyone shake. I know it was mostly because he was so cold and wet, but he looked terrified and I couldn't stand it. I ran in and put my arms around him.

"Oh, Pitch, I'm so sorry. And I'm so stupid! I can't believe I let this happen."

I figured he'd be mad, or maybe just numb, but his little arms came up around me. Well, that about broke me. I had keep very busy to avoid making it obvious that I was crying. Yeah, it happens. How would you feel? You've got this great idea and you go to set things in motion and someone ends up getting hurt... then they don't even yell at you for it. You'd feel terrible, that's how.

Anyway, I hauled the wet hoodie off him and wrapped a blanket around him and told him to take off his wet clothes. I checked the ugly green dresser and found that for some reason there actually _was_ another pint-sized pair of pants and evil-looking tunic for him to wear, so I got them out for him and he changed awkwardly through his shivering under the blanket.

"Hey, I forgot," I said, going to retrieve the jacket off the floor. "I brought this for you from Tooth and the fairies."

"I'm not wearing _that!"_ he exclaimed, as soon as he saw it.

In a way, I was relieved, because it was the first thing he'd said since the nightmares were gone, and he sounded more like his old self. "But these are real fairy feathers," I protested. "They worked hard on it. They _literally_ put themselves into it!"

Pitch stumbled closer in his blanket-cloak and reached out to touch the soft feathers. "They made this for me?" he whispered.

I felt guilty, because I hadn't ended up telling Tooth who it was for, so strictly speaking, they hadn't made it for _him_ specifically. But I didn't have the heart to tell him.

He sighed. "Well, if I'd had that before, maybe I could have flown out."

And I felt guilty all over again.

"I'm really sorry, Pitch. It's all my fault..."

"Save it." His eyes fell on the tooth case. "So... you really got them."

"Yeah." I retrieved the case and held it out to him.

He shook his head. "I told you, I don't want to know."

"But... it's OK. Whatever's in there, I won't abandon you. I won't be able to see it anyway, so you don't even have to let me know."

"But I wouldn't want to remember alone..." Pitch sounded wistful for a moment before recovering himself. "Anyway, you don't know the future. It's better not to know. Maybe... you might be right. Maybe things can work out after all. But maybe remembering would spoil it. What's the point?"

"Do you at least believe that I'm trying to help you at this point?" I asked, pretty frustrated after all that I'd been through.

"I think... maybe you are. And maybe Tooth isn't so bad. But she did punch me."

"Well, you held her fairies prisoner and you hurt Baby Tooth. I think she was holding back."

Pitch sighed again and sat on the edge of his bed, pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders. "I suppose." After a moment, he said, "They can't ever really forgive me, can they? I couldn't ever look Sandman in the eye. None of them. They don't understand."

I sat beside him and put my hand on his shoulder. "One step at a time. Remember what you told me? You don't have to be alone—I believe in you."

He peeked up at me as if checking to make sure I wasn't making fun of him. Then he all but slammed his forehead against my collarbone and started shaking again, but this time it had nothing to do with the cold. "I... I'm so lonely," he choked.

I knew exactly how he felt. It made my throat close up like someone stuffed a paper cup down it. I swallowed hard and patted his back for a minute. "Listen... I need to go. Some friends are going to be worried if I don't go back soon. But I'll come back tonight, all right? It's daytime now, so the nightmares won't be as strong, right?"

"No," he agreed sullenly. "They won't."

"You keep your teeth here. If you want, you can get your memories back without me, or wait until I come back."

"You're not afraid I'll remember something that will make me want to hurt you?"

I shook my head, though honestly, I wasn't a hundred percent sure. "I think I can trust you this much," I said.

"You will come back, though?"

"Yeah. I promise." I winced. I had promised him everything would be all right, and then he'd gotten attacked again. "I will."

"All right, then... I guess I'll go to bed."

With that, he slid onto the floor and rolled under the bed.

"Hey..." I got down on my hands and knees, propping my staff against the bed and lifting up the covers again. "Don't you ever sleep _in_ the bed?"

He shuddered. "No. No, it's not safe up there."

"Isn't it kind of creepy down here?"

He shook his head vigorously. "Up there, you don't know what's hiding down here."

"Well, yeah, but..." I wanted to say, "When you're down here, anything could be on top of the bed, too," but I decided if Pitch felt safer down here I should just drop it. "If you're sure," I said. "You should really brush your teeth, though."

"I'll do it when I get up."

"OK. You need anything?"

"No."

"Then I'll see you—"

"Wait. Can I have that jacket?"

I reached up for the jacket, which I had left on the bed. "Here."

"Thanks." He looked at the feathers hanging off the seams and a funny little smirk came over his face. "It's kind of like a sunset, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I said, smiling. I set the tooth case beside him. "See you tonight."

"Good day, Jack."

So, after that I hurried back to this world, expecting Eren to be up and worried sick over me... but only Vin was at home. Levi and Eren had had to leave in the middle of the night. So in the end I was the one waiting for Eren to get home, and since he was the one interested in seeing me put what happened into writing, I made him wait until he could read it for himself instead of telling him the story.

* * *

 _Whew. Now that I've finished this chapter I can go back to the other world and check on Pitch. I hope you leave some feedback while I'm gone. Remember to try to have fun if you get scared! ~Jack_


	4. What Pitch Saw

_bluefrosty27: We had the day off yesterday. :p Updates will probably be slower now. I'm glad you're enjoying the story!_

 _Now, for what happened last night..._

* * *

CHAPTER FOUR: What Pitch Saw

Levi and Eren had gotten such a poor sleep the night before that it didn't take them long to zonk out that night. Once they were asleep, I was off. Don't ask how I travel between worlds... I'm not entirely sure myself. I'm told that when other alters want to do it, they have to call in Leo, who is a sort of guardian angel from something called _Charmed_. But I can just fly between. Think of it as going second star to the right and straight on 'til morning if you like.

Fortunately it doesn't take that long, though. It was around midnight, I think, when I got back to Pitch's room. I had to dispel a little band of nightmares that were prancing around on the bed above him, but there he was.

"Did you stay under here all day?" I asked, crawling halfway under the bed on my elbows.

Pitch nodded. His hair was a mess, and not the controlled chaos that his adult self always sported. A genuine kid-style messy.

"Did you get any sleep?"

"Some," he said. "But..."

"You had nightmares?"

"Every time."

I gave him a sympathetic look but decided not to ask what he dreamed about. The less he thought about it, the sooner he would forget it. "I guess you didn't look at your memories?" I asked.

"No."

"Do you want to now?"

He rolled onto his side and picked up the tooth case. He rubbed a polished gold edge with his thumb. "Maybe," he said.

"Come out from under here," I coaxed. "This is too cramped."

"Are you claustrophobic?" he asked, sounding hopeful.

"Not really... just uncomfortable." I backed out and held up the curtain of bedclothes. "Come on."

He crawled out a moment later, dragging his things with him. He put on the little jacket the fairies had made, and I have to admit he did look a little silly in its bright yellow, orange and pink. But I had more serious things on my mind. He pulled his blanket up over it anyway, so it was easy to refocus on the matter at hand.

"You'll stay?" he asked. He seemed like such a normal little kid just then, I don't think anyone could have said no to him.

"Of course, I will," I said. I sat back against the bed and put my arm around him. "You go ahead, and you don't have to tell me anything you see if you don't want to."

He actually leaned his head on my shoulder as he held the tooth case in both hands. He murmured quietly, "You're my only friend."

I could see from the way the case was shining that he was in the midst of his memories after that, so I didn't answer him. I was sure that if I'd tried a little harder to understand him before, if the other Guardians had tried to talk things out instead of fighting him, things might have gone very differently.

Rather than describe our conversation afterwards, I'll tell you what Pitch saw. I'll have to embellish a little bit, because he didn't give me a lot of detail, but for the sake of the story I don't think you'll mind a little inaccuracy.

He was walking along a path through a forest. Two younger boys were with him. The younger boys ran about, jumping out at each other from behind trees, dumping snow on each other from evergreen bows.

"Don't go so far," Pitch complained. "Mum said you have to stay with me."

"We can see you!" the other boys chorused, paying him little heed.

Pitch trudged on, an annoyed expression all over his young face. "If you keep straying off the path, a wolf is bound to get you," he called.

"There are no wolves!" one of the boys said defiantly, but the other looked a little worried.

"Oh, yes there are. Woodcutter said it's been a bad winter. The wolves are coming down from the hills to find food. And they'd like nothing more than to eat up a silly little boy who doesn't know how to mind!"

The youngest of the boys came back to Pitch's side. "But they won't come on the path?" he asked anxiously.

"Not while I'm with you," Pitch declared. "I'm big and tough. I'm scarier than any old wolf!" he finished in a growl.

The boys laughed and the defiant one rejoined the others.

Back at home, Pitch's mother had a difficult time getting her youngsters to eat their vegetables.

"You'd better eat them up," Pitch admonished. "It will keep the wolves away."

They laughed skeptically, but he went on.

"Wolves like food that tastes like bread and meat. They don't eat greens. Never. So if you don't eat your greens, they'll come after yoooou!" He lifted his arms and waggled his fingers in a spooky manner.

The boys shrieked with laughter and began eating their vegetables.

"You oughtn't frighten them like that," Pitch's mother said.

"Something's got to keep them in line," he replied, and she didn't argue.

In fact, when the boys began to complain about their chores that evening, she said, "You'd just better do your chores, or a big, scary ghost-man will come after you." She gave Pitch a wink.

"That's right," Pitch joined in. "He'll snatch you away to a kingdom of nightmares where you'll be forced to do his chores forever!"

"You're lying!" shouted the youngest boy, but he rushed to wipe the crumbs from the table, and his brother fetched the broom to sweep up.

"I'm not lying! I'm hurrying to bring in the firewood! The Nightmare King won't be getting me tonight!" Pitch put on his boots and the long, black coat his father had brought back after one of his long trips.

When he got done bringing in enough firewood for the night, he crept up behind his brothers, who were washing the dishes.

"Do you think the ghost-man is real?" the younger asked quietly.

"There's no such thing," said the elder.

"But mum said so, too."

"BOO!" Pitch shouted, right behind them.

Both boys jumped, the younger squealing and the elder dropping a bowl of soapy water on the floor.

"Philip Black!" his mother exclaimed.

Pitch hurried to pick up the wooden bowl, smothering his laughter. "Sorry, mum. Only a bit of fun."

The last scene Pitch saw was on the path in the woods again. It was dark, and the wind was fierce.

"It's so dark," the youngest boy said, looking around fearfully.

"I heard wolves howling," the middle child said. "But I ate my greens."

"We're almost home," Pitch lied.

"No, we're not. We've gone ever so slowly because of the wind. We're not halfway."

"It's all right. I'm big and too scary for those wolves," Pitch said. But the howls were getting closer, and he was getting uneasy.

A little later, the youngest said, "They're following us, Pip. Oh, I wish you had Papa's bow."

Pitch stopped and listened. There was no more howling. He looked around and seemed almost to feel yellow eyes looking at him. "I've a confession to make," he said. The boys looked at him solemnly and he went on. "I didn't eat my greens last night," he said. "There wasn't enough to go around, so I let you have them all. That's why they're after us. You two go on home, and I'll lead them another way."

"But they'll eat you!"

"No, they shan't. I'm Pip... Pitch Black! I'm scarier than the scariest thing out there! I'll lead them away and then I'll fight them off. I'll be home before breakfast. Now, go on. Quick as you can, and no looking back."

The younger boys hugged their brother and ran on together.

Pitch stood where he was. He knew that wolves rarely attacked people, but the Woodcutter had indeed said that this had been a harsh winter. Food was scarce. He took a few steps back. A dark shape moved in the trees. Something stepped out on the path ahead of him.

"No!" he shouted. "It's me you want. Come here!" He scooped up some snow and threw it at the shape.

The wolves' attention was all on him now. He ran off into the woods, not paying any heed to direction. He led them through the thickest part of the forest, across a frozen stream and up the far bank, on and on until he couldn't run anymore.

Then he found a stout stick and made his stand on top of a rock, shouting at the wolves when they got close and waving his stick menacingly.

He was exhausted, but at last he heard the howling of another wolf in the distance. The wolves surrounding him answered. Eventually, reluctantly, the pack began to move away. Pitch crouched on his rock and watched them go, scarcely able to believe it.

 _I did it. I really am scarier than the wolves._

He had no idea where he was at this point, and the cloud-covered moon gave little help. He trudged along, trying to make his way downhill as best he could, but at last he was too cold and tired to go on. He lay down in the soft snow and closed his eyes.

"You are Pitch Black," the moon had told him. "Boogeyman and Nightmare King."

He didn't quite know what it meant. But it sounded important.

Pitch looked up at me, his wolf-yellow eyes full of wonder. "I think... I might have been a Guardian, too," he said, as if he could no more believe it than he thought I was likely to.

* * *

 _There you go! More soon if I find the time.  
_


	5. What the Tooth Fairy Learned

_To bluefrosty27: To clear up your confusion, this story takes place shortly after the events of the movie—a few months, I think. I came to this world and met Levi and Eren and Vin, who are Mairead's alters, and Mairead and Eren's interest in Pitch is what got me wondering if Pitch had been destroyed by his own nightmares, or if he was still down in his lair. I remembered how the Easter Bunny had turned into a cute little fluff ball when people stopped believing in him, and I thought something similar might have happened to Pitch. That's what I went to find out. As for the memories Pitch saw, those were from his actual childhood, shortly before he died and got his powers. Kind of like how I got mine when I fell through the ice. He got lost in the woods and fell asleep in the snow (which you should never, ever do—you will most likely never wake up!). Then as the Boogeyman, he became an adult. He's not actually a child again; he just has a lot more child-like qualities, including appearance. I hope that all makes sense. ^_^_

* * *

CHAPTER FIVE: What the Tooth Fairy Learned

After Pitch explained what he had seen to me, he said, "If I had understood what my powers were meant for... maybe I could have become a Guardian eventually. After all, I used to be the one who made sure children went to bed on time, ate their vegetables, didn't talk to strangers... all the things parents couldn't explain to children, but enforced for their own good—that was me!"

"Yeah, you're on to something," I agreed. "Honestly, this is better than I hoped." I was pretty proud of myself again. My original idea was that Pitch could work with Sandy to help kids sort out real-life problems through dreams, and maybe that was still a good idea, but in light of what I now knew, Pitch had already done a lot to keep children safe. It wasn't nice to scare them, but who knew how many people had lived healthier and avoided trouble because of him?

"Do you think it's enough?" he asked.

"For what?"

"To tell the others?"

Before I could answer, a familiar voice said, "Tell the others what?"

I looked up to see Tooth in the passage outside the door.

Pitch looked up at me, blank despair in his eyes, silently asking if I had brought her with me.

"She must have followed me," I said. "I never told her it was your teeth I was after."

"I didn't follow you," Tooth corrected. "After you were gone, I started to think your visit was a little weird, and I was wondering who the little boy was that you were helping, so finally I sent Baby Tooth to find out which teeth you'd taken. Well, she was gone a long time, because she started looking in the seven-year-olds. She hadn't figured it out, even after zipping around the catalogue for a good half hour. When she gave me an update, she said she thought she had probably overlooked it. And then I remembered our odd conversation. About how old everyone was."

I rubbed the back of my neck sheepishly. "So, I wasn't as subtle as I thought."

"Jack," Pitch whined.

"You didn't tell anyone else, did you?" I asked.

She hesitated, then said, "Not yet. Maybe I won't if you're planning to do that yourself. Will you explain what's going on here?"

I reached back to pull a pillow off Pitch's bed and tossed it on the floor in front of us. "Have a seat."

"I don't trust her," Pitch said, tugging at my sleeve as Tooth settled on the pillow. "She's thick as thieves with all the others."

"It's OK," I told him. "We don't have to keep this a secret."

"Oh, my gosh," Tooth said, leaning toward Pitch. "I couldn't really see him before... he's so..."

Pitch glared at her.

"...angry," Tooth finished, covering her mouth to hide a smile. "But seriously... oh, and he's wearing the jacket! It's so... so..."

She was trying really hard to hold back, but she just couldn't. It finally burst out of her.

"...CUTE! Did you really loan him your hoodie because you made him cold? Awww..."

"Stop it!" Pitch shouted in what was probably supposed to be an intimidating voice, but it came out a little whiny and defensive. Hearing the failure in his tone, Pitch angrily tore off the jacket and threw it at Tooth. "Take it back," he spat. "You never would have made it if you'd known it was for me!"

Tooth sobered and picked up the jacket from where it had landed half in her lap. "I didn't mean to upset you," she said.

He burrowed against me. "Don't let her knock out any more of my teeth," he hissed.

"She won't," I said firmly. "Tell her what you told me. About your memories."

He peeked at Tooth before burrowing into my shoulder again. "You tell her," he said.

I could understand why he wouldn't want to go through relating the scenes again, especially to someone he didn't trust, so I outlined the important points for Tooth while Pitch made a few whispered prompts and corrections.

To her credit, Tooth listened quietly until I finished. "Well..." she said slowly. "I have to admit, I never really stopped to consider that Pitch could use his power for anything good." She bit her lip. "Mm... I'll have to give this a lot of serious thought."

"You won't tell the others, will you?" I asked. "I want to eventually, but I don't want them to do anything rash. If they hear that Pitch is still down here and trying to figure out how to use his power again, they might not wait to hear any more. I don't want them to hurt him."

"They are bound to be very wary," she agreed. "After all, he's attacked all of us. Kidnapped my fairies. Not to mention what he did to Sandy."

Pitch made a muffled sound and clung to my arm. He mumbled something I couldn't understand.

"What?" I asked.

He lifted his head slightly, most of his face still obscured. "I said... I'm sorry." He hid again.

I lifted the arm he wasn't attached to and patted his head as I looked appealingly at Tooth.

"That's a start, I guess," she said. She looked at the floor a while and then sighed. "Give me a day or two to think all of this over, all right? Then we can talk again and decide what to do."

"That's fair, isn't it?" I asked Pitch.

Pitch shrugged.

"Come on, I think it's good that she wants to think about it. At least she's not freaking out, right?"

He nodded.

"Pitch," said Tooth, "I hope you'll keep this jacket. Whether we knew it or not, we did make it for you. Consider it a peace offering?"

He peeked at her again and finally reached out to take the jacket from her. "Fine."

"I need to get back now," she said, getting up. "Will I find you here, Jack?"

I shook my head. "I've been visiting another... land," I said, deciding to be evasive at the last moment. I didn't feel like trying to explain this world at the time; she needed to focus on Pitch. "I'll hang out there for a day or two and then come find you."

"All right. That's good. I don't like to be away for long. We're very busy."

"Yeah, I know. Just promise you won't say anything to North and the others before we talk again."

"I won't."

"Promise," Pitch ordered, sounding very serious in spite of his childish voice.

"I promise," Tooth said.

I stood up, and rather than lose his grip on my arm, Pitch stood up, too. "Thanks, Tooth," I said. "I really appreciate it. Pitch, can she take your teeth back now?"

Pitch had left the tooth case on the floor, so now he let go of me with one hand to stoop and pick it up. He looked at it a little while before holding it out towards Tooth, cringing like someone holding out a fish for a shark.

"Thank you," Tooth said warmly as she took it from him. "I guess I'll see you two soon."

"Bye," I said. I waited until I was sure she was gone and then looked down at Pitch. "Think you'll be OK here by yourself?" I asked.

"How long?"

"Until Tooth's had a chance to think things over."

He was still holding on to my wrist with one hand. "I guess," he said sullenly.

"Are you still scared of the nightmares?"

He shrugged.

"Come on... you're Pitch Black. You're bigger and scarier than anything, right?"

He finally let go of me and stooped again to pick up his jacket. He shrugged it on, took a deep breath, walked purposefully to the closet and flung it open.

A single nightmare exited the closet, about two feet tall at the head, or perhaps I should say four and a half hands at the withers. It cantered around Pitch, snorting with menace, and he looked about to lose his nerve for a moment. Then he drew back his little arm and threw a punch that landed squarely on the nightmare's muzzle. It exploded into a shower of black dust and Pitch brushed his hands against each other as if to clean them off.

"I'll be all right," he said.

I grinned. "Yeah, you will." I went to him and gave him a hug, probably more for my own sake than his. "Stay out of trouble until I get back."

"Mhm."

I felt a lot better about leaving that time. When I got back, I put up the previous chapter as quickly as I could and then slept the morning away, and part of the afternoon, too. Then I went outside and played around a bit until the others got back from Mairead's day job. Then the pestering from Eren began, and I settled down with some supper to write this chapter. I got interrupted a bit, so it took longer than planned, but here it is. Now I have to give Tooth a little more time to think, but I'll be sure to let you know what happens next.

* * *

 _I'm as curious as you to know what happens next this time! Questions and comments still welcome. ~Jack  
_


	6. Flight Of Fancy

_Here we go again! A lot happened in this world over the weekend, so the others' memories of all that are making the memories of my most recent trip a little hazy, but I'll recount it as best I can. The sooner I do, the more I'll remember._

 _Thanks for sticking with me so far. I'd love to hear from more of you!_

* * *

CHAPTER 6: Flight Of Fancy

So, not that night but the next night, I went back to my world and opted to go straight to see Tooth first. She was expecting me, but her mind didn't seem much more made up than before.

"There's just so much that can go wrong," she said, offering me a cup of fruit juice. (I accepted, but I was much more interested in the conversation than the drink.) "First off, he could be conning you."

I shook my head. "No way. I saw him. He was just a scared little kid. And those nightmare things have been tormenting him ever since we faced him down. He couldn't fake it. I'm sure."

She let that be for the moment. "Even if he's not faking, maybe he says he wants to try doing good now, but once he gets a little power back, it will be far too easy for him to change his mind again."

Pitch hadn't actually said the words "I want to do good now," but I decided not to mention that. "Then we'll deal with it when the time comes. He can't possibly get all his power back all at once. We'll watch him."

"I'm afraid it's just in his nature to want to frighten people and encourage them to do evil things."

"I don't believe that. He started scaring people to have fun with his brothers and keep them safe. Those aren't bad things. You know, some people _like_ to be scared now and then. If they didn't, they wouldn't watch scary movies at Halloween." I suddenly wondered if I could travel to the world of Jack Skellington, but I still didn't feel like telling anyone that I could go to other worlds, so I didn't say anything about it. Still, if there were a Halloween-based spirit or Guardian, the Pumpkin King seemed like the perfect candidate.

Tooth frowned doubtfully. "I guess," she said.

"Won't you at least give him a chance? He's been all alone for so long... no friends at all, Tooth. Think about that for a minute. Remember how you felt when Pitch captured all your fairies? You were alone, but at least you could call on the Guardians for help. Pitch didn't have anyone. When people stopped believing in him, all he could do was pout and plan revenge. If he'd had a friend to talk to, things could have been different."

"I don't know, Jack..." She looked away with a sad expression. "I just don't know."

"Really? I honestly expected a little more empathy from you... you're such a nice person—I thought you'd at least feel sorry for him."

"I do. Really, I do. I agree, it sounds like a horrible position to be in. It's just... I'm afraid he's going to hurt you. That eventually reaching out for your help will turn into manipulating you. He's so good at that kind of thing, and I don't want anyone to take advantage of you."

I sighed. "I admit he came close to manipulating me before. But I know what to watch out for now, and I think I know how to help him."

"Just be careful, please. He may look like a little boy now, but he's just as cunning as he ever was."

"You sound like you're not going to help me."

"I'm not sure how I can. I'll be glad to help if you really need it..."

"You mean if something goes wrong."

"Don't get upset. I'm not going to get in your way, and I won't tell the others as long as things are going all right."

I took a swig of juice and set the cup down. "I guess I should be happy with that," I said, standing.

"You don't have to go so soon," she protested, also getting up.

"I should go see Pitch. If he thinks I abandoned him, I'll have to start all over." I couldn't help rubbing in my point a little. "At least _he'll_ know he has a friend he can count on, even if we don't see things the same way."

OK, I really shouldn't have said that. It was too harsh. But I did the bratty thing and left without giving her a chance to protest. I get upset and my common sense goes away. It's a thing.

I hurried back to Pitch's lair and found him once more under his bed. "Please, tell me you weren't under here the whole time," I said anxiously.

"I wasn't," he answered. "You didn't bring Tooth." He didn't look at me when he said it, and though he didn't show it I knew he was disappointed.

"No... she's kind of a hard sell. I guess she doesn't believe you can change."

He nodded once, slowly.

"It's OK," I said, worming my way in beside him. "I still believe in you. It will take time, but I think she'll come around."

He shrugged.

I considered telling him not to pretend he didn't care, but decided against it. I didn't want to push too hard. But I really didn't know what to do next.

"Did the nightmares bother you at all?" I asked.

"A little. Not much."

"That's good." I tapped the floor impatiently. "Do you want to go outside?" I asked.

"What for?"

"Well... we could go somewhere cold and have some fun."

He pulled his blanket up a little bit. "I don't know. Cold is your thing." I could almost hear him add, "I don't have mine."

"I'll take care of you," I said. "If you don't like it, we can come back. No harm done. Right?"

"I guess." He drew in a breath slowly and then let it out all at once. Then he rolled over and we crawled out from under the bed. "I don't have warm enough clothes, though."

Pitch had never showed any sign of getting cold in the past, but I guessed that with his loss of power, he probably had a lot of human weaknesses. "We can find you some somewhere," I said. "Your jacket won't be enough..." I looked at him critically. "You know, you're about Jamie's size now. Maybe he would lend you some stuff. In fact, maybe he'd come with us. That would be fun."

I shouldn't have been so careless in bringing Jamie up. That, after all, was the kid who stood up to Pitch and put him in his place. The one who brought Sandy back to fight him.

Pitch rubbed one arm with the opposite hand. "Jamie doesn't like me."

I winced, realizing my mistake. "Well... he doesn't have to know that it's you. He stopped believing in you, so he won't be able to see you."

Pitch looked up at me through half lidded eyes in a sarcastic glare. "So, he's going to lend clothes to someone he can't see?"

"...Maybe? No plan is perfect... But since Tooth isn't being very helpful so far, we should probably try to get a kid to believe in you next anyway. It would be great if you could turn over a new leaf with Jamie."

"I don't want to. This is a bad idea. I'll just stay here." He started to get down on the floor again.

I grabbed him by the sleeve. "Wait. Just come with me, OK? We'll go talk to Jamie and see how things go. If it doesn't work, we can come back here. I'll find you some snow clothes somewhere and bring them another time."

He folded his arms and favored me with another glare. "I don't like it."

"Please? Just try."

He turned away from me, lowered his head onto the bed for a moment to groan into it, and then started pulling on his jacket. "Fine."

/'*

Pitch's nightmares still weren't cooperating with him, and though made from fairy feathers, his jacket wasn't enough to help him fly on his own, so he had to let me carry him, which he didn't like one bit. As soon as I set him down, he moved a few steps away from me and crossed his arms again.

It was late spring now, almost summer, but the night air was a little chilly. I was tempted to make it colder still, but I resisted and flew up to Jamie's window.

The kid was asleep in bed, some fanciful golden figures dancing over his head. I whipped up a few snowflakes and sent them floating into the dream, which quickly shifted a new direction. The figures changed or disappeared to be replaced by new ones. I kept playing around with the dream until Jamie finally woke up.

"Snow," Jamie said sleepily, almost in a question. Then he saw a larger-than-life snowflake hovering inches from his face and sat up excitedly. "Jack Frost?"

I tapped on his window and waved.

I never saw a kid move so fast. Jamie threw off his covers and ran over to the window, shoving it open as quickly as he could. "Jack!" he said in a loud whisper. "You came back!"

"Of course I did."

"But it's almost summer."

"Couldn't wait until winter," I said, smiling at him. "I was wondering... I want to take a friend to Alaska, and I wondered if you'd like to come along."

"Alaska? You mean now?" he asked.

"That's awfully far," Pitch put in.

"Well, we have to go somewhere where it's cold and the sun won't go down," I retorted.

Jamie blinked at me, confused by my tone.

"Sorry—I was talking to my friend."

Jamie moved over and put his hands on the windowsill, looking out into his yard. "Who is it?" he asked.

"Um, he's a spirit that I think might make a good Guardian someday, but he's having some trouble because no one believes in him."

Jamie's face was instantly the picture of warm concern. "I believe in him," he said. "He's a friend of yours, so of course, I do."

I smiled. "That's great. I'm glad you say that."

"There he is," Jamie said suddenly. "Is that your friend?"

He was pointing at Pitch.

"Um... yeah, that's him. His name's Philip."

"Hi, Philip," Jamie called. Then he looked at me again. "Is he a fairy, or what?"

Pitch "harumphed" at that.

"Uh, no," I said, struggling not to laugh. "He's just wearing a jacket that the fairies made for him." I explained that Pitch was sensitive to the cold because of his weakened state, and soon Jamie had crept through his house and back with coats, snow pants, and accessories for Pitch and himself.

"We can't be gone too long," Jamie said. "I have school tomorrow."

"I told you this was a bad idea," Pitch grumbled.

"It'll be all right. I can always take a nap afterwards. And the next day is Saturday, so I can catch up then."

"I'm supposed to convince kids to go to bed on time."

"Oh." Jamie looked critically at Pitch. "Are you related to Sandman?"

Pitch took on such a grimace at that question that I had to intervene. "No," I said. "Philip's job isn't all about sleep. It's also about doing your chores and stuff."

"I don't think I've heard of anyone like that, but it seems like I should have. Are there any stories about him?"

"Lots. But that can wait. We need to get going."

"Not all the way to Alaska," Pitch insisted as he pulled snow pants over his other clothes, stuffing his little black robe tails inside.

"OK, maybe not. But far enough that the snow won't cause a sensation, and somewhere where the sun is still up."

"How will we get there?" Jamie asked.

"I'll carry you," I said. Then, "Better idea—do you have a sled you can get out without too much trouble?"

Soon I was skating through the sky on a sheet of frost I projected ahead of us, pulling Jamie and Pitch behind me on a short toboggan.

"Woo-hoo!" Jamie shouted.

Pitch didn't say anything. He grudgingly held onto Jamie's waist. Jamie had Pitch's boots in his lap and was holding onto Pitch's legs, his own feet tucked under the curl at the front of the sled.

It was the most fun I had had in a long time, so I was determined not to let Pitch's sour mood spoil it. A lot of kids believed in me now (though a few had started to forget me now that the weather was turning warm), but I secretly considered Jamie my best friend. He was the first one to see me and talk to me (other than the other spirits and Guardians, I mean), and even if it was a little childish I still kind of held him in awe. As I said before, he had stood up to Pitch. That's nothing to take lightly, in spite of the fact that I'm trying to help Pitch now.

* * *

 _So, off we sped into the night. I'd better leave off for now, or this chapter will get far too long. More soon, I hope. Questions or comments? Feel free! ~Jack  
_


	7. Precious Memories

_Thanks again, bluefrosty27! I can always count on you for a little feedback. I don't know why everyone else is so shy; maybe they're just busy._

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN: Precious Memories

Once we hit an area that had already dropped below freezing, I brought us down to the ground on a glorified roller coaster of ice. I whipped up a flash blizzard to give us a fresh pile of sticky snow. Pitch and I started rolling snowballs while Jamie scratched out a fort design on the ground. With the help of my magic we were able to get a small castle together within half an hour. There was even an upper level at the front, so you could pelt intruders with snowballs from above as they approached the open gate.

Well, then of course we had to make a slide down from the upper level and packed it good and hard. I melted its surface just a tiny bit and re-froze it so there was a perfect crust of ice to slide down. We didn't really need the toboggan since it was so slick, but we took turns on it anyway, sliding out of the castle and partway down the hill until the snow ran out and we hit the stubbly grass beyond.

Next, we played a sort of Capture the Flag game. We each had a little fort about ten yards from the castle. If you got hit with a snowball, you had to run up and touch the castle and run back. If someone stole your flag (a scarf tied to a stick) before you got back to your fort, you were out. The others told me I wasn't allowed to use my magic, and I didn't... but I may have held back a little to let them win a few rounds. After all, my legs were a lot longer than theirs and I could run much faster.

We'd been playing a couple of hours and Pitch genuinely seemed to be having fun, but it was he who said reluctantly, "We'd better be getting back."

I knew Jamie didn't want the fun to end (and neither did I), but he's a good kid. He didn't make a fuss.

We had a "last hurrah" knocking over the top level of the castle, making the whole thing look more like a big snowbank than a fort. Then we took to the sky again, me pulling the sled, the boys holding on and enjoying the ride (Pitch in front this time, looking much less grumpy than on the way out), their scarves drifting out behind them in the breeze.

Jamie was worn out by the time we got back to his house, and I figured he would go right to sleep once his head hit his pillow.

"Jamie," I said when he was back through his window with all the snow clothes.

"Yeah?" he whispered sleepily.

"You remember the Boogeyman?"

He sniffed and nodded, looking like he was trying to concentrate.

"Well, when people stopped believing in him, he lost all his power."

"Mm. Good."

"Well, he got to be small and not really dangerous at all."

Jamie yawned widely. "Sorry," he said, blinking.

"Just let him sleep," Pitch said. "He's not awake enough for this. Besides, he'll have to go to school in a couple of hours."

I sighed. "OK. I'll tell you more about it later," I told Jamie.

The boy nodded. "Thanks for coming. I had a great time," he mumbled, tottering off to his bed.

"So did we," I said. "Good night."

"G'night." He pulled up his covers and was asleep right away, just as I figured he would be.

I took Pitch home, and we didn't talk until we got there.

"I'm not sure when I'll be back," I said, wanting to make sure I didn't set any unrealistic goals.

He shrugged, as if it made no difference to him. But he said, "I feel a little better now."

I smiled. "Good. I think we're on the right track, Pitch."

I helped him make up his little bed-under-the-bed. "It sure was nice of Jamie to lend you some of his snow clothes," I said, my head propped on my hand supported by my elbow on the floor. My hair brushed the underside of the bed. "You know what you could do? You could write him a thank-you letter."

"A letter?" Pitch repeated scornfully.

"Sure. Tell him you had fun with him and say thank you."

"Sounds like a lot of bother," he said.

"Yeah..." I agreed involuntarily. "But it's a nice thing to do."

"I bet you never did."

"Only when my mother made me. But I can see why she did."

"Jamie's a kid. I don't think they care about thank-you notes."

I shrugged one shoulder. "Maybe not. It was just an idea."

"You don't have to stay here," he said suddenly. "I know you're bored."

"I... haven't had time to get bored yet," I protested. "But I did think I should go see Tooth again. I have an idea that might help."

"Go, then."

I didn't like how snappy he was being, but I supposed he might just be trying to get his image back after being so carefree earlier. "OK. I'll try to come again soon."

He made some reserved answer so I would know he had heard me and I backed out from under the bed.

/'*

"I can't go looking at kids' memories without their permission," Tooth told me, but something in the way she said it told me she might have done exactly what she was protesting, and maybe more than once.

"Jamie wouldn't mind," I said reasonably. "I'd say you should talk to the kid himself, but he's asleep now and he has a long day of school tomorrow, so this is the best way."

She was frowning, but she wasn't arguing. I pushed on.

"You store kids' most precious memories, right?"

"Right..."

"Well, Jamie just spent some time with me and Pitch. All you have to do is check to see if if his tooth case holds anything from the last few hours."

"You exposed an innocent child to Pitch Black... _on purpose?"_

I rolled my eyes. "Jamie can take care of himself. You saw him. Now, will you stay on topic? Just check his tooth case."

She finally gave in and went with me to the area where the most recent teeth were kept. She got out Jamie's case and held it in her hands.

I couldn't see what she saw as the case shimmered and gave up its secrets, so I anxiously watched her face. I started to feel relieved as her features softened. Finally, she put the case away and sighed.

"One night spent with a child—and not harming him—doesn't mean that he's changed," she said slowly. "But... I admit it's more than I thought Pitch capable of." She looked at me and I could still see bushels of concern in her eyes. "Time will tell," She said. "I hope you're right to believe he can change. I really do. Please, promise me you're going to be careful."

"I am being careful," I said, but I can't say I'd taken many precautions so far. The only time I did much to limit Pitch, he had ended up getting hurt, so it was hard for me to judge how much caution to use.

"I mean it," she said, apparently sensing insufficient resolve in me.

"I know. And I appreciate your concern. But right now, Pitch is in less need of a jailer and more need of a friend. I know you're probably still mad at him for what he did to Baby Tooth and the others, but if he can change do you think you can forgive him?"

She looked away from me again, a war of emotions going on all over her face until she said, "Maybe."

I had to take what I could get. "Good," I said, as if she had answered yes. "Now... I'll try not to bug you again for a little bit, but I hope you'll be willing to try to help me if I ask you."

"I'll certainly hear out whatever crazy idea you come up with," she said, attempting a smile.

"Fair enough."

Progress is progress. Sometimes if you don't celebrate the little wins, you'll have no high points at all. But looking back on that night, I really did have a high point: I swear I saw Pitch smile more than once in that snow castle. An innocent, having-fun smile, not a calculating, rule-the-world-with-fear smile. I call that a win.

/'*

Back in this world again, Eren told me that his friend Leo (the guardian angel-ish guy I mentioned before) can go back to his own canon at whatever point in his timeline he pleases, even though his character isn't exactly a time travel expert in his world. That has got to be a very useful ability. I decided that next time I go back, I'll ask for Leo's help so I can arrive a little earlier. We've been so busy here that typing up this chapter took longer than I hoped, and I wish I could have gone back to my world yesterday. So, with Leo's assistance, maybe I _can_ go back yesterday, weird as that sounds.

I'm hoping that being a Guardian, and him being a guardian angel ("White Lighter," Eren corrects me), we will have something in common and he'll be willing to help me out. In the meantime, the guys and I are enjoying the lead-up to Christmas. We have a little tree decorated, holiday air fresheners, candles, cookies, eggnog, hot chocolate...

Incidentally, I find that I get hungry and tired a lot more easily here than back in my world. Of course, whichever of us is "fronting" feels all of Mairead's frailties full-force, but even when I'm on our separate plane I don't feel quite like myself. It's not all bad, though. Getting truly hungry makes it more satisfying when you eat, and getting humanly sleepy makes you really appreciate a good night's sleep. And dreams. We had some crazy ones the last few nights. I don't remember them now, but sometimes I wonder if Sandman pays much attention to the direction dreams go once he puts them in someone's head.

But I digress.

* * *

 _Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know what you think and feel free to ask questions about either world. :p oxoxo ~Jack  
_


	8. Everything Changes

_Thanks for continued support! I hope you still like reading after the twist things take in this chapter... even I am a little nervous about it.  
_

 _bluefrosty27, it might have been because he didn't want me to leave, but at the time I just figured he was annoyed with himself for being friendly and cooperative for a change._

* * *

CHAPTER EIGHT: Everything Changes

So much has happened, I hardly know where to begin. I suppose it started yesterday, when we went to the library to return The Great Gatsby on audiobook which we had just finished. Sometime soon, we'll have to watch the movie (that's the proper way to do it: read the book and _then_ watch the movie, and for very good reasons, as I am finding out and you are about to).

I had never checked a book out of a library before, and Levi graciously told me I could look around and check something out if I wanted to, so I started exploring. With the help of the library computer, I learned the names of the books in the series that my canon movie came from, and the name of the author. We looked for an audiobook, but there was none. Next we tried young adult fiction. I suppose I should have known it wouldn't be there, but I had little to go on.

"Don't give up," Eren told me.

We went through the juvenile section, looking at all the J's. So many Jones books. Then—Joyce! It was there! Well, three out of four. The important thing is, Book One, _Nicholas St. North,_ was there. I checked it out and Eren teased me a little on the way outside because... well, I was just about crying. I can't explain the emotions I was feeling. Happy, I guess, mostly, but also overwhelmed. It was like I was the last survivor of some long-forgotten race and I had stumbled across a history book that told all about my people. Very much like that.

"Be careful, though," Eren warned me. He explained that once I started reading this book, my own memories might change, like when someone goes back in time and starts changing events, people's memories get altered to fit the new series of events.

I guess I didn't take him as seriously as I should have. The book was almost all I thought about as we made a couple more stops at second-hand stores. We were trying to find brown pants and a blue hoodie for Mairead, so I could feel more like myself when I was in front. (We didn't find a good hoodie, incidentally, but we found a pair of pants that I think will do.)

Anyway, I didn't get to start reading until last night, and right away I began to see what Eren meant. If you haven't read the books about the Guardians of Childhood, this is going to be a bit of a spoiler. So I'm warning you. But I will try not to spoil much. The thing is, a few chapters in I learned that Pitch used to be a hero. He was a hero who got corrupted, and it really wasn't even his fault. He tried to do something kind and it ended up allowing the darkness to swallow him up. I almost cried again when I read about that.

I also realized that Pitch's memories of his mother and brothers didn't take place on Earth at all, but on another planet with similar woods and similar wolves. My memory of my sister probably didn't take place on Earth either. It might have... I haven't read far enough to be sure. But I learned how the Man in the Moon came to _be_ the Man in the Moon. I learned that North started out as a bandit. All of this information... so overwhelming.

I keep saying to myself, over and over, "I knew it. I knew he wasn't always evil. Now I have to convince the others..."

Eren keeps telling me I may not want to take the book back to my world. Once I do that, my world will be changed forever. This version of me is born of the movie canon mixed with Mairead's imagination. Once I add the book into the mix, Eren says, I'll split this reality off and turn it into a sort of "alternate universe." Things we all took for solid facts may change completely. Even the things I helped Pitch remember might be altered slightly. And while I'm thinking of it, that memory about the Man in the Moon telling him his name—I have no idea if that happened right after the wolf incident or not.

I'm starting to think that he didn't die out there in the snow after all. Maybe someone found him and he just didn't remember that part because it wasn't important at the time, or because it's not the kind of "precious memory" that get stored with children's teeth. My mind is so blown, I don't know what to think. Or what to do. Maybe I should just stop reading. Return the book and forget what I learned.

But I can't. I think I have to finish reading the book, for better or worse, and then take a copy back to my world. I think we stand to gain more than we stand to lose. And Eren has promised that whatever happens, he won't let me forget about Jamie.

I really believe that once the other Guardians know what I know, once we've discovered all that this book can tell us, they'll look differently at Pitch. They can't hate him when they know that it really wasn't his fault. I'm sure of that. Sure enough that I think it's worth the risk. So, I'm scared, but I'm going to keep reading.

I've typed all this very quickly—I'm going to work with the guys today, but I'm taking the book along to read when we have downtime. I'm going to read this thing as quickly as I can. I'm already at least a quarter of the way through, maybe a third. Once I have more to say, I'll fill you in. This isn't enough for a chapter... and I apologize because it's not very story-like. I'm just so confused and amazed right now.

Incidentally, I have to count myself lucky in a way. Eren said that he and Levi started reading their manga canon. But a few sections in, it started to make him sick and he had to stop. So, I should be grateful that my book canon hasn't been that shocking or disturbing so far.

/'*

OK, I'm just over halfway through the book. The more I read, the more I think Eren is right: I need to get the whole picture before I go back to my world and start spreading around what I know. I also have to decide if I really _want_ to do that. Do I want my friends to change into slightly different versions of themselves? Do I want to change? I guess I should ask, have I changed already?

I don't feel much different. Just overwhelmed, still. Reading North's background is very interesting, but I have yet to see exactly how I fit into everything. And I still have a lot of unanswered questions about Pitch, too.

I'm kind of nervous to go back now. I'm afraid everyone will know that something is off and try to get me to tell them what's going on. If Pitch thinks I'm hiding something from him, who knows how he'll react? Our friendship is on pretty shaky ground. He's still small and weak, but just because he can't fight me doesn't mean he can't hurt me. I don't think people understand how much I hate seeing kids who are upset. And when a kid is mad at _me..._ that kills me. And if it really is my fault that the kid is upset, that's even worse.

I don't know what to do except keep reading. I can't un-learn what I've learned, so I may as well learn as much as I can. I think the best thing to do is try to finish this book as quickly as possible, and _then_ make a decision about what to tell the others. I know now that my story came from a story (well, a movie) that came from a story (a book series) that came from so many stories (folk lore in this world)... So I have to take all of that into account before I decide how to shape my own story. And, oh good gods, then there's THIS story that I'm writing right now. I now understand why people sometimes bang their heads on walls. They just want all the noise in there to stop.

So, one way or the other, things are changing around here. My future is at a crossroads, and I wish there were only two options to decide between. But this is one of those crazy sign posts pointing in every direction, some even just labelled and pointing "up" or "that way." I'm sorry for how... "meta," Eren says the term is... this story has become, but there was always a bit of that from the beginning. I just hope it still amounts to a decent story after this.

I wish I could ask someone for advice. North, or Tooth or Sandy... or even Bunny. At least I have Eren and Levi. (Vin went back to his world today, planning to come back later. I hope he does; he was nice.) Levi always gives logical advice, and Eren kind of follows his gut. But they've been in this world a lot longer than I have, so they know a lot about dealing with discrepancies between your canon and your personal memories, as well as dealing with the knowledge that you're a fictional character... Imagine being someone whose power comes from people believing in you, and knowing for a fact that you _are not real._ Think about it a minute. A little longer.

Does your brain hurt yet? Yeah, mine too. That's why we don't think about that kind of thing very long or often.

To wrap up, I'm going back to my reading. I know you're dying to know what will happen with Pitch, and frankly so am I. But I want to do this right. And if I manage to do it right, I think this story will turn out all the better for it. So, please be patient with me.

* * *

 _I suspect if I get comments on this chapter, it will be either advice or a question... or maybe criticism. Really, I'll look at anything you have to say. Maybe it will help. ~Jack  
_


	9. Uncomfortable Silence

_Thanks for reading the last chapter. I know it was probably very weird, and we're not out of the proverbial woods yet, but we'll get there._

* * *

CHAPTER NINE: Uncomfortable Silence

I went to see Pitch last night. I decided I couldn't wait until I finished North's story. I asked for Leo's help, and he was able to take me back the night after our little adventure with Jamie.

I barely spared a moment to wonder how Jamie's sleepy day at school had gone. I didn't see anyone else, but went straight to Pitch's lair.

I found him for once not under his bed but sitting against it, playing with a small nightmare. I say playing, but to the nightmare, it was not a game. It would charge at Pitch, he would smack it away, it would canter off a few feet and prance in a little circle and eventually work up the nerve to charge again.

After I watched the strange scene for a minute or so, I went to sit beside him against the bed. "Good to see you out," I said, with just a hint of sarcasm. Out of bed was hardly an achievement.

"It's night," he said, as if that explained everything.

We sat there, the silence becoming more and more uncomfortable. I don't know if you know this, but there are different kinds of silence. There's the kind friends share, that is comfortable and doesn't need filling. There's the kind acquaintances share that is neither comfortable nor uncomfortable, when they are waiting for the same thing. Then, among others, there is the silence shared by people who are not at all sure that their goals are the same. People who don't know what to expect from each other, who hope in or fear each other. That was the kind we were enduring.

When I didn't like waiting any longer for him to break the silence, I said, "I think I may have found something that will help."

He shattered the nightmare this time around and sat with his hands on his knees. "What is it?"

"I don't want to say exactly what it is," I said. "I'm not sure how to use what I've learned yet, and I don't want to get your hopes up and then disappoint you." I really wanted to tell him that I knew who he was. That I knew he had been a hero. That I had been the first to conquer and imprison him, but I would be the one to free him. That I knew there was a fragment of good left in his heart and I would find a way to wake it up and get rid of the darkness in him forever.

But I couldn't say any of that. I put my arm around his shoulders instead.

He glanced up at me, a little suspicious I think, and said, "Well, if you can't tell me what it is, and you can't use it yet, I guess you should go back wherever you've been and figure that out."

It was logical. And cold. I couldn't blame him.

"Yeah. I just wanted to... to let you know I'm working on it."

He nodded. Then he frowned and looked toward the window that opened on nothing. "It's trying to get in," he said darkly.

"What is?"

"The moonlight."

I looked, but nothing was coming through the window.

"I can feel him trying to get down here," Pitch said.

I felt uneasy. This sounded like something that would happen in the book I was reading, not the movie I'd come from. I had the feeling that without trying to, I was already changing things. I needed to get ahead of this thing if I was going to control any of it.

"I'd better go," I said, giving his shoulder a tiny squeeze before getting up. "I'll try to hurry."

He nodded again, not looking up at me. He looked about to say something, but never did.

"Bye," I said softly.

/'*

Back in this world, I woke up much too early... but early enough to finish the book by the time we would normally have gotten out of bed. It left me with a lot more questions, I'm afraid. But it taught me a lot, too. My original name, for one thing. My friendship with the Man in the Moon, something I still don't really remember. I'll have some big decisions about which parts of my alternate story I want to weave into my world, and how.

I know I definitely have to get my hands on the next book. I may have to read them all before I can make a proper plan. But I'm going to do it. I'm going to. And I'm going to try to get Levi to take me to the library before work this morning.

So, with that in mind, I need to help get ready for work. Again, I'll write more as soon as I can.

/'*

That was quite the ordeal. The library didn't have the next book. They had three and four, but not two. The computer told me that three or four other libraries in the area had it, but not the one closest to Mairead's home.I apologized for taking so long—we ended up being a few minutes late for work—but Eren explained to me that we don't blame in this family. Not even ourselves. Whatever happens on Mairead's plane is a joint effort. We help each other and we pick up each other's slack and don't complain or find fault. It's a foreign concept to me. It will take some getting used to, but I think I like it.

I was pretty crestfallen at work, unable to provide much relief for the monotony. It was a busy day, though, so it went by in a bit of a blur.

On our break, we were able to find that another library would still be open when our shift ended, and we could easily get over there and back home in time to be at the ready in case we were needed at Mairead's second job. (She never thought she could handle two jobs, yet here she is.) We found our way over there and I decided to check out two _and_ three, just in case I finished Bunny's book and couldn't get back to the library for a while.

Once I settled down at home to read, we got a phone call. From the second job. I'd have to wait until we got home _again._ I was very tired and not a little fed up when we got home. Only figuratively though—we didn't get a chance to eat supper until then, either.

So, I'm relieved to have the books and nervous all over again to see what they hold. I've kept a copy of North's book on our plane—we can take things on our plane and it doesn't disturb anything on Mairead's plane. That is wonderful when it comes to food. If someone takes the last soda, for instance, we can all take one from the single one that exists on Mairead's plane. Whoever is in front drinks that one and the rest of us have our copies. So we never have to worry about not having enough to go around.

I think I'll get back to visit Pitch again before I'm done with book two. I don't like to leave things too long without checking in, even if I can go back to whatever point I want with Leo's help. I think it's almost time to show North his story and ask for his advice. That should be a safe enough move. I guess if you can think of any reason why that might be an alarming error in judgment, you can speak up in a review or private message. But Eren and Levi think it's likely to go all right, so I don't think I'm being too rash.

I won't be going back until later tonight at least, so I have some time to get started on Bunny's story. I have to say, I'm extremely curious about this. I'm sort of hoping I'll find some secret from his past that I can tease him about. He is so fun to annoy. And so easy, too.

/'*

One final point before I post this short-ish chapter. Pitch had another name, too. If you don't want a book-spoiler, just jump to the author note at the end. His name was General Kozmotis Pitchiner. He used to fight the Fearlings, not command them. Fearlings are those creatures that are kind of like ghosts, only absorbent black instead of glowy white. Kind of like the Dementors of Harry Potter, if you like. Anyway, knowing that they used to be his enemies makes me realize that he didn't invent them. They didn't _come from_ him. I have a feeling that may be an important point later on. Maybe the same is true of the nightmares. Maybe they wouldn't have turned on him in the end if he had actually made them from scratch.

* * *

 _I probably won't post again until I have more news from my world, so it may take a little while. I just don't want you to go through the agony of slowly getting to the bottom of things with me, and I don't want to spoil too much from the books, either. Still, I'm going to put a warning in the story description to make sure people know about the book influence coming in. Please comment if you can spare a moment. ~Jack  
_


	10. Formulating a Plan

_OK. Ready or not, here I come._

 _bluefrosty27, North knows one version of his story. I'm not sure he knows the whole thing, or he may have forgotten it. That's one of the things I have to find out._

* * *

CHAPTER TEN: Formulating a Plan

This is huge. To me. But I'll try to keep it short for you. First of all, if I accept the book-canon as my own, a lot might change. I was worrying about losing my memories of my sister. I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to keep them, but then Eren reminded me of something.

"Look, the power of magic in your world comes from belief, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said.

"So, as long as you believe you had a sister that you saved from drowning, you won't lose those memories. It will stay true."

It was a really simple concept... so simple I totally missed it. He was completely right and I cheered up a lot. Sometimes things seem much more complicated than they are.

The next huge thing to me is a spoiler, so skip to the next paragraph if you don't want any book-spoilers. My original name. It was Nightlight. That might sound silly to you (it's OK, it did to me at first, too), but it kind of makes sense. After all, when kids are scared of the Boogeyman, they plug in a nightlight and suddenly he doesn't seem so scary anymore. So, it follows that Nightlight would be the one who could stand up to Pitch.

Sorry, but the next huge thing is another book-spoiler. Skip to the next paragraph again if you don't want it. This one is about Pitch: he had a daughter. I woke up early again and read part of Bunny's book without the others and I was reading about how the Fearlings tricked Pitch into thinking his daughter was trapped with them... that's how they got to him. I woke Eren up and I was crying and he asked what was wrong, so I told him. There wasn't anything he could do, of course. Just, you know... all the "There, there, it's OK" stuff. It's not really OK, but I'll figure it out eventually.

Last night, I made the mistake of watching a fan video about how Jamie and I might be related. I thought it was an idiotic idea, but they made some good points. He really does bear a resemblance to my sister. It's really weird to think about, but it might be true. I think they're wrong about my sister being called "Flee," though. I don't remember her name. But I don't think that was it.

Anyway, I had a weird little breakdown. It had already been a long day when we went to see a play with a friend of Mairead's. After the excitement of that, we had a message from the second job—someone asking a question that two other people had already asked. Why don't these people communicate with each other? We answered them, saying we already told two other people. They were not informed, apparently. We can't even tell which person is talking in these texts, as various superiors use the same phone to send them. It was frustrating. So we had the day job stress, the play excitement, my stress over learning about my alternate history, and then that little thing.

It was too much for Mairead's emotions to handle. I wasn't used to anything like this mix of feelings and whatnot, so I was the one that ended up taking the brunt of it. The others were pretty calm, though Eren did seem effected, too.

Levi told me, "Come here." And repeated it when I merely looked at him skeptically.

I was surprised when he hugged me, and more surprised when his uncharacteristic show of empathy brought tears to my eyes.

"It's OK," he told me.

As if taking that for permission, the tears spilled over. I shed a good three or four, actually. I don't cry. I mean, I'm not a crier. Before I came here, getting misty-eyed over Jamie's belief in me was the closest I had come for a hundred years. And now I'm just a mess! I'm glad Eren is sympathetic; I gather he cries from time to time and gets mad at himself for it. But Levi pretty much never cries. Still, he doesn't ridicule me for it.

Don't get me wrong—I don't think it's bad to cry. I probably shouldn't feel embarrassed about it. But Mairead does, and Eren does, and it's just never been... I've never felt like it was quite acceptable, somehow. I think that's a shame, because we need to cry. After I did, I felt a little better right away. It's a healthy release. Probably would have done me good to cry a bit over the years, even just out of frustration because no one could see me.

I apologized for cracking under the strain (a lot of it being Mairead's strain, not mine) and said, "Sometimes it just feels like I can't handle it..."

"Sometimes we can't," Levi said simply.

After I stopped, he acted like nothing happened, and I think his attitude on crying is that sometimes it's necessary... but also that there's no need to sit around talking about it afterward. Pretend it _didn't_ happen. I don't know if that's best, but for the moment I appreciate it. It minimizes my embarrassment.

Eren comforted me, too, by the way. He kind of patted my shoulder and stuff. He was close to crying as well, so that also made me feel better, since I wasn't the only one making a scene. He's been a very good friend to me.

The other day I asked Eren if he's always been this warm and supportive, and he laughed and said, "Heck, no!" I gather that back in his own world he was kind of rash and not very quick to make friends. Here, he seems to welcome everyone with open arms and make friends easily. Rash in a new and pleasant way, you might say.

I'm glad that he is the way he is. I definitely need a friend right now, and he and Levi have been very nice to me.

/'*

I know what to do. Not entirely because I finished Bunny's book. But talking things out with Eren (he's gotten to be a very good sounding board), I've decided that I need to do this a little at a time. And having lived in this world, sharing Mairead's memories, I have an idea of how I can bring my "alternate universes" together without blowing everything up.

See, if I try, I can look back into Mairead's memories. That's because I'm a figment of her imagination, and as long as she doesn't block me from seeing anything, I can see what she does. I still know very well that _I_ wasn't the one doing the things she did, but I can see it from her perspective.

Now, if necessary, I think the other Guardians and I can take what we learn from this book series and get the benefit of the experience without having our memories completely altered. Some things will probably still get changed, but I think I can keep it under control. I'm planning to present this plan to North tonight.

I haven't decided whether or not to take Tooth with me. And I may want to visit Jamie first. I need to take a good look at him and see if he really looks that much like my sister. It's been bugging me.

The weather here has been getting colder, but unfortunately I can't get it to snow. Of course I've been reading a lot, so I haven't been trying my hardest, but Eren is convinced that I can't influence things like that on Mairead's plane. Maybe on ours.

And speaking of snow, Eren mentioned that Mairead has a snow machine. It only makes fake snow, but... SNOW MACHINE. I've been wanting to mess with it, but so far haven't gotten to it. Again, lots of reading. And we're just busy.

Like today, we're expected to hang out with two different groups of friends. I don't know most of them, and almost none of them know I exist. So... I'll just have to find fun in it somehow.

Speaking of finding the fun in things—and looking at Mairead's memories—there's a movie called _Life Is Beautiful._ It's in Italian with English subtitles, but so worth it. I find I'm a lot like the main character. Whenever he's afraid or oppressed, he finds a way to have fun. I have to warn you though, it's very grim and bittersweet. Fun will keep your spirits up, but it can't protect you from everything.

OK, back on topic. Tonight I go back. In the meantime it's hanging out with people I don't really know and trying to snatch a few lines from Tooth's book. So glad I got it out at the same time! Definitely a good call. I just realized there's a separate series, beginning with a book about the Man in the Moon... so it's a good thing I've decided I can take action before I finish the series.

I think my next chapter will have more _happening_ in it, and I certainly hope it's good stuff. You know, like North not declaring war on the Pitch-child. That would be good.

* * *

 _I hope you've enjoyed this so far. I'll try to get more up tomorrow, but as I've said, we're very busy here. Soon. Feel free to comment or question. ~Jack_


	11. Three Visits

_As always, thanks for reading. I hope you find the next bit interesting._

* * *

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Three Visits

I pushed open Jamie's window and drifted over to his bed. "Jamie," I said softly.

I had to try harder than that to wake him, but once he was lucid enough to realize it was me, he sat up and snapped on the lamp by his bed.

"Jack!" he exclaimed in a whisper.

"Yeah," I said, smiling and trying not to look obvious as I scrutinized his face.

"Are we going out again?"

"No... I won't take up much of your sleeping time tonight. I just wanted to see you."

He looked a little confused at that, but then he smiled softly. I guess I gave some sort of sign of surprise or recognition then.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Nothing. It's just—you kind of remind me of my sister."

His eyes widened a little. "I didn't know you had a sister."

"Yeah... a long time ago." _Stop being selfish,_ I told myself suddenly. _Remember what you're trying to do._ "Jamie, you remember when we got back here the other night and you were so sleepy... I was starting to tell you something about Pitch."

"Oh, yeah," Jamie said, frowning. "I forget... what was it?"

"I was telling you that he lost all his power because people didn't believe in him anymore."

"Yeah. I remember now."

"Well, you know how the Easter Bunny got all little and cute when that happened to him?"

"Yeah." Jamie smiled a little at the memory.

"That's kind of what happened to Pitch."

"Really? He's... little and... cute?"

I snorted. "Uh... he looks like a little kid."

Jamie laughed. "Wow. So, I guess he can't hurt anyone now."

"No, not really. But I was thinking... maybe he could start over. Maybe he could change his goals and start to help people instead of harm them."

Jamie was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Maybe. I mean, it's worth a try. Everyone deserves a second chance, right?"

I smiled at him. "Yeah, that's what I think, too. That's why I brought him to see you the other night... 'Philip.'"

"That was him?!" Jamie asked, voice rising in surprise.

"Shh," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. "You'll wake up your family."

"Sorry," he whispered. "That was him?"

"Yeah."

"I had a snowball fight with the Boogeyman?"

"Ha, yeah."

"Huh." Jamie frowned in thought again and then he chuckled. "Cool."

I ruffled Jamie's hair and he cringed away from my cold fingers, but his amusement lingered.

"You won't stop believing in him, will you?" I asked. "He really needs the support right now, and so far, you're the only one."

"I won't," he promised. "But you have to come tell me what's going on now and then."

"Yeah, I will. I should go now. I'm going to talk to North about all this soon—Santa Claus, I mean."

"He doesn't know yet?"

I shook my head.

"Wow... good luck."

"Thanks."

About to leave, I looked around the room and spotted a nightlight plugged into the wall, but not turned on. "Do you want this on?" I asked, pointing to it.

Jamie looked over at it. "Oh, I don't need it," he said, reaching up to turn off his lamp.

"OK. Still, it's nice that you've got it, just in case."

"Mhm." He smiled.

"Good night, Jamie."

"Night, Jack."

/'*

I stopped by to see Pitch after that. He was under his bed again, but as usual, he was not asleep.

"Do you ever sleep?" I asked. "I don't. Well, not when I'm here." That probably sounded silly. Pitch didn't know I could travel to another world, so he had no idea what I was talking about.

Sure enough, he gave me a baffled and disdainful look. "Why would you sleep _here?"_ he asked.

"That's... not what I meant," I said. "But do you? Sleep?"

"What do you want?" he asked.

I was annoyed, because I genuinely wanted an answer to my question, but I let it go. "I told Jamie about you. He thinks you should have a second chance."

It was hard to tell what Pitch thought of this, but I'm guessing he was glad. If he didn't care, he'd have said something proud or sarcastic, but he just stayed quiet for a moment. "So, he knows I was the one with you the other night," he said.

"Yeah. He was surprised. But I think everything will be fine. I'm going to see North. I don't know if I'll get around to telling him about you or not; I'll have to see how it goes."

"Be careful. North sometimes reacts to things before getting all the facts."

"I know." I looked at Pitch's child-like face, thinking of who he used to be. "Pitch... do you remember the Golden Age?" I asked.

He stared up at the bottom of his bed for a very long moment, face still and blank, but glimmers of emotion flitting through his eyes faster than blinking. "No," he said at last.

I frowned. "I don't believe you," I said.

He rolled away from me, onto his side. "Go away."

"Come on, Pitch..."

"Go visit North. You're wasting time."

Time was rarely a concern to me, being immortal, but clearly that was not the real point. Pitch didn't want me asking about his past. He didn't want me here anymore, because I'd brought up something he'd rather have time to think over on his own.

I pushed myself backward, out from under the bed until just my head and one arm were still under. "OK... I'm going now." I waited hopefully, but he didn't move or say anything.

I turned and got up on all fours before seeing a large nightmare standing in the middle of the room. I say large... it was really pony-sized, but compared to the ones I'd seen lately, this one was large.

I lifted my staff, but rather than attack me, it dodged to one side and leaped onto the bed. I heard a little gasp from underneath and understood that the nightmare had come only to torment Pitch.

"Get away!" I shouted. I stood up and thrust my staff toward it, sending cold blue shards of ice at it.

Then the nightmare turned toward me, little icicles now sticking out of its shadowy hide like porcupine quills. As it reared up and struck at me with its hooves, I threw my magic at it, melding ice and snow with the darkness. A solid chunk of blue-black swirled nothing fell to the floor and broke in pieces.

I got down on hands and knees again to check on Pitch. "Are you OK?" I asked.

He had his arms wrapped around himself and he seemed to be breathing a little hard, but he nodded. "Fine."

"Do you want me to stay?"

He shook his head. "Go."

"O-OK, if you're sure," I said.

He said nothing more, so I left, but I felt guilty. There was no doubt in my mind that my question had revived fears in Pitch that had called the nightmare in.

/'*

I went to Tooth next instead of straight to North. I told her I'd confided Pitch's situation to Jamie and how he had reacted.

"I still don't know about this," she said. "But I guess I'll withhold judgment until we hear what North has to say."

"About that," I said. "I think he'll be more reasonable if you come with me."

From her expression, I knew she didn't want to go, and her words soon confirmed it. "Jack... I'm really busy here."

"I know, but if I go by myself, he might not give me a chance to say everything that I need to. He'll listen if you're there. I know he will. Please?" It wasn't the time for tooth-flashing, so I made an attempt at puppy eyes instead.

Whatever I did, it must have worked, because she couldn't seem to look away from me and she soon gave a little sigh of resignation. "Oh, all right. But we need to try to keep it brief."

"Sure. I understand. Can you go now?" (I knew it wasn't likely to be brief at all, but... I needed her to come.)

"I guess so. No time like the present and all that."

She left Baby Tooth in charge, and we headed off toward North's village together. I was nervous, but more confident than I had been for a while, especially with Tooth at my side. I knew she wasn't won over yet, but North was sure to take me seriously when he saw that she did.

"I'm not sure how much I'll be telling him," I said as we flew along. "See, there's another thing I have to bring up first."

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's about..." I glanced at her, not sure she would believe me. "...another world."

She raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"I kind of got pulled into one," I elaborated, "and I found I could go back and forth pretty easily."

"That's big news to be sitting on."

"I know. I just wanted to make sure I had a grip on things first."

"Well, I look forward to hearing about this other world."

I nodded and we flew on.

* * *

 _I'll save the visit at North's for later, rather than wait to post when I have more time. Thanks for reading, and feel free to comment. ~Jack  
_


	12. Telling North

_Sorry it's been so long! Christmas preparations have had me very, very busy. Mairead had a wretched Christmas last year, and we have been doing our utmost to make sure she has a good one this year._

 _Thank you for reading, Metaljinx! Always nice to get feedback. Bluefrosty27, thanks for your continued support._

 _Now, to pick up where I left off..._

* * *

CHAPTER TWELVE: Telling North

Tooth and I got to North's village a little before dawn, flying our fastest all the way. Well, I was using my flying and frost-road-building by turns, having fun to quell the nervousness trying to creep up in my stomach. Tooth kind of shimmered a little when she flew, her wings beating so fast I could see only a blur.

We were welcomed by elves and yetis and ushered in to see Santa Claus himself. He acted pleased to see us as usual, but his eyes told me that our unexpected arrival worried him.

"There's no crisis," I told him quickly. "Just some things I need to discuss with you."

"Well, good," he said, visibly relaxing. "Pull up a chair. Have milk and cookies."

I couldn't help smiling a little as Tooth and I made ourselves comfortable. I took a cookie and nibbled a little, washed it down with some milk and then set my snack aside.

"I'm just going to dive right in," I told him. "A couple of weeks back, I got... sort of dragged to another world."

"Dragged? By whom?" North demanded. Then, seeming to reconsider priorities, he said, "Another world?"

Painstakingly, I did my best to explain Mairead's situation and the world that she lived in. North had many incredulous questions, but I won't bore you by putting them all in.

When he seemed to finally have a grasp of what I was talking about, he concluded. "Is very interesting. Could you take others there?"

"I... guess. Maybe," I said reluctantly. I hadn't really thought about it, and it definitely wasn't what I wanted to talk about now.

"Could others come here from there?" Tooth asked, looking like she felt threatened.

"Uh, maybe," I said, deciding not to mention Leo. "But I think it would be only under certain special circumstances. That's not what I wanted to tell you about, though."

From there, I brought up William Joyce's books and the _Rise of the Guardians_ movie and showed North a copy of his story. He perused it with great interest, flipping the pages and stopping to look at a lot of the pictures. We discussed the similarities and differences between canons and our personal memories. Then I disclosed my concerns about the whole situation.

"I see cause for uncertainty, yes," North said, still looking at the book. "Is lots of memories here."

"Yes, but are they _your_ memories?" I asked anxiously. "Do you remember Ombric and Katherine?"

"Of course, I do!" he exclaimed, surprising me.

"Well... what happened to them?"

He stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Some I remember," he said at last. "Some I do not."

"That's what I was afraid of. I've introduced ideas from these books into our world without even meaning to... because I can't help but believe that they're true."

"Ah, belief is very powerful, as you know," North said. He held up the book. "I keep this?"

"If you want to," I said. "I've read the whole thing already. And the next one."

"Next one is about Toothiana?"

"No, Bunnymund. Tooth's is third. Then Sandy's."

He nodded and ate another cookie before speaking again. "Well, Jack, you started this thing, and it seems to have done no harm so far. Tell me, we come out on top in these books?"

"Yeah. Every time... though, Pitch always comes back for the next one."

"Then I say you must finish what you started. Keep reading and see that we come out on top again, every time. You need help..." he gestured to himself and Tooth. "...we are here."

It was much more accommodating an answer than I had expected. "You... you trust me?" I asked.

He stood up and stretched. "Sure. You're a Guardian too, remember? Besides... looks like we have no choice." He grinned and messed up my hair.

"You have to keep us informed, Jack," Tooth said, after not speaking for a long time. _"No secrets."_

From the way she said it, I knew she wanted me to tell North about Pitch.

"Hold on," I said. "You'd better sit down again. There's something else. Related, but..."

Sobering, North sat back in his chair and reached for another cookie, as if they gave him fortitude.

I began to tell about Pitch, beginning with my theory that he would be small and harmless now, and ending with Jamie saying he deserved a second chance.

"You knew this?" North asked Tooth.

"He told me," she confirmed. "I wanted to tell you much sooner, but Jack wasn't ready."

He waved a hand. "No harm has come of it. Yet," he added, looking at me. "Still, it is a lot you undertake without your friends at your side."

"Well... can you blame me for worrying that you might not give him a chance?" I asked. "No one's ever suggested it before. But like I said, in these books, he keeps coming back and we keep defeating him—why not let him come back and help him be better? Then we won't have to defeat him and the cycle will be broken."

"Is charming idea. I like it. But... what's the phrase?"

"Easier said than done?" Tooth suggested.

"Mm." He nodded, then said, "Something about theory and practice."

"It may not hold up in practice as well as in theory," I said.

"That's the one."

"I know that, and I'm being careful. I know he's still the Boogeyman. He doesn't have enough power to do anything very harmful right now, but I know he might go back to it once he does. I just want to try to help him. I know he's lonely. Maybe he just needs a real friend for a change."

"I told you, is nice idea. I hope it works. But you need help—don't run from us, your friends."

I nodded. "I know. Thanks for hearing me out. I hope you will again if I need help. Don't jump to conclusions or act too quickly."

"Listen to this one," North told Tooth with a snort. "Jack Frost telling _us_ not to be rash."

Tooth smiled. "We'll listen to you," she said, looking back at me. "I think Sandy and Bunny should know about all this, too, though."

"I can fill in Sandy and Bunny," North offered.

"Really?" I asked. Things had actually gone better than I thought they would, and I figured that with the other two Guardians respecting North more than me, they would probably handle the strange news better from him.

"Sure. You say in this other world you visit, it's nearly Christmas, yes? You have lots to do. So, go do what you do best: have fun."

I felt happy at this. "Thanks. I really appreciate it."

Tooth and I said goodbye and I flew south with her for a little ways.

"Thank you for coming with me," I told her.

"That's all right. I feel better now that he knows," she answered.

She looked thoughtful, and after a moment, I asked what she was thinking about.

"I was just wondering... now that Pitch is like a child again... does he have baby teeth?"

I laughed. "I don't know... I guess he probably does, though. Gosh, I guess not many people get a second set of baby teeth."

Her face showed some tender emotion and she said, "It's like you said... a second chance."

"Yeah. I'd better be getting back now. Like the man said, I have a lot to do."

We parted ways and I hurried back to this world.

/'*

We had yesterday off from the day job, so we took a trip into town. First stop: the library. I was still not all that far into Tooth's book, but I returned Bunny's and picked up Sandy's. Next we went to what they call a "dollar store," where they have all kinds of cool stuff for a dollar apiece. We bought a _lot_ of stuff. Seriously. A lot of it was little gifts for Mairead, but we got each other some things, too. I'm excited about my present, even though you might find it silly. I'm trying to forget about it so I'll be surprised when I open it, but... I doubt it will work.

Next we went to a couple of thrift stores and we found me a blue hoodie. It's darker than the one I wear in my world, but it was the best we could do, and I had really been missing it on this plane. Of course, they're making me wait until Christmas to wear it. Maybe they'll let me wear it Christmas Eve. Compromise.

The house smells good, and the little tree looks very cheerful. I can't remember celebrating Christmas with my real family, so this is very nice for me. Vin told us he hasn't had a proper Christmas for years either, and I know Eren and Levi are from a poor, war-torn place where they can't afford to celebrate in a big way. So this is going to be very special for all of us. It makes me feel like I belong.

I've come to really care about these friends a lot. I know we'll go our separate ways eventually, but I'm just going to savor this time together. It's like having a family. I can understand why Pitch would want something like this... why it would lead him to justify some pretty terrible actions in its pursuit. I hope I can help him find what he wants—what he _needs_.

* * *

 _All for now. I hope you enjoyed seeing North's reaction. I was sure relieved! Questions and comments still welcome. (And if you end up reading this years after I posted it, if you have questions or comments then, someone will likely still answer and appreciate them, even if I'm not around.) ~Jack  
_


	13. Christmas Special

_Afrobaron, thanks for reading! Glad you are enjoying it. I also have a new follow and favorite, so that is encouraging._

 _This chapter takes place only in this world, so it doesn't really carry along the main thrust of the story. Consider it a "special episode" of sorts, which can be skipped without missing much vital information._

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Christmas Special

 **Friday:**

Even the dog has a present under the tree (the lion costume we found for him at a discount store) and a stocking nearby. We've spent nearly all of Mairead's weekly "allowance" that she gives herself to see to expenses, along with the extra Christmas money, but the weekend is nearly here, and we'll have spending money again.

We have to get through a six-hour shift at her day job, but we intend to be well prepared so it will pass quickly. For breakfast, Levi fed us something that looks like it came from a summer camp or army mess hall, but tastes like someone's mom made it from scratch. He's kind of amazing like that.

Last night, we had a mishap with a candle. We did what you're never supposed to do—left it unsupervised. Turns out the candle holder wasn't entirely fire-proof, and there's a good reason they tell you to remove that big, round sticker from the bottom of your pillar candle before you burn it. All these years of experience Mairead has with fires and candles, and this is the biggest "oops" she's had with them. That's a pretty good record, and it definitely taught us all a valuable lesson. Don't worry, though—it was easy to put out with just three good, strong breaths, and it hadn't spread to anything else yet. Leaving a window open and a fan blowing for an hour or so cleared the smoke.

It seems that fire is like a dog: little and cute and warm and sweet... until it starts trying to eat things you didn't feed to it. Then it's time to put it out. OK, you don't have to say I'm clever, but I enjoyed that analogy.

Just before it's time to go—I finished Toothiana's book while enjoying a mug of my new favorite drink. You put your cocoa mix in a mug, throw in some instant coffee, pour your hot water in, stir, and top it off with a splash of eggnog. I'm a genius. It is SO good. Ate some goldfish with it... not real ones. The cracker kind, only these were "honey bun" graham fish. I can't believe how tasty this snack is. I don't get hungry much in the other world; here I enjoy food a lot more.

The end of the book left me reeling with new information once again! I'll try to write a bit more after work, though we'll be on call for the other job then.

/'*

Oh, my gosh. The day job is crazy. I'm so glad we don't have to go back until after Christmas. One patron was particularly unreasonable and hurt Mairead's feelings a bit, but then late in the day a random stranger had a surprise for us.

"Sometimes I feel God telling me to do a random act of kindness," he told us. Since Mairead happened to be the one serving him, he gave his gift to her. It was money—how much, we didn't know, as it was all curled up.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you," Mairead said. "Thank you so much."

As he was leaving, we started to open it up. Was it five dollars? That would be nice. Very nice. It looked like a five. No, it was a twenty. We were like *blink blink* random stranger gave us twenty bucks.

It completely turned everything around and made the stressful day suddenly bright and peaceful. It was one of the nicest things a stranger had done for Mairead in her whole life. After work we used some of the money to buy a couple of last-minute things we'd been wanting but holding off on because we already spent plenty for Christmas. This included some candy which we shared with coworkers (share the blessing, right?) and some teeth-cleaning dog treats for Mairead's dog, who shall be called Tricky (don't like to use his real-life name, as it could put Mairead's anonymity in jeopardy). Toothiana would approve of that purchase... probably not the candy, though.

Another little surprise came when we got home. We knew the dog treat pack was supposed to hold five chew sticks, but when we opened it, there were six. It was like the random act of kindness wasn't quite done giving yet.

Now we're relaxing in the glow of Christmas lights. We're on call for the night job, but tomorrow is Christmas Eve. We will probably open most of the presents in the morning (before or after breakfast is up for debate—there's been talk of making apple pancakes or crepes and baking muffins) and then go to Mairead's brother's house to give presents to him and his wife and kids and spend some time with them. But tonight I'm starting Sandy's book, so I'll be well occupied until we get called to work or go to sleep.

Unfortunately, the forecast says it will probably be too warm for us to have snow here... so I fully intend to play with the snow machine tomorrow. Maybe feed some ice cubes to the dog. Eren gets cold easily, but I miss the ice and snow a lot. Maybe while the others are asleep or out on call, I'll fly somewhere colder and have some fun.

/'*

Eren wanted peppermint cocoa. So, we put a couple of soft peppermints in with the mix, and then I convinced them to let me add eggnog again. By george, I've done it again! It's like drinking the best candy ever. I'll have to tell Bunny about this. Maybe he'll make some eggnog-themed chocolate eggs.

 **Saturday:**

I got in a good night of playing in snow. Eren, however, got only about half the sleep he was hoping to. Apparently the proverbial sugarplums dancing in his head wouldn't let up. Mairead's family has always had the tradition of opening their presents Christmas Eve morning, because they wanted to take their favorite new things with them when they went to her grandparents' house that day. So, naturally, we adopted the same procedure. Eren started another tradition last night. Mairead has written an old-timey Christmas carol. I won't put it down here, because she wants to publish it in a book someday. But Eren's idea was to join hands and sing the carol together the night before Christmas Eve. I've never had a tradition like that before. It was pretty cool.

So, this morning we groggily got out of bed, wishing each other a merry Christmas, and changed into fresh pajamas to enjoy the lazy morning. We weren't awake enough or industrious enough or hungry enough to bother making the crepes after all. Mairead had intended to read the Christmas story, but we all forgot. We turned the Christmas lights back on, lit our scented candle and proceeded to open gifts.

Even though we all knew what we were getting, Mairead had successfully forgotten a couple of things, so she got some surprises after all. Mission accomplished. I excitedly unwrapped the nightlight I had picked out at the dollar store. It may seem childish, but it's exactly what I wanted. It has a crescent moon and a couple little stars sitting on a cloud and the light it gives off is sort of spectral-blue. I LOVE it.

Eren got a little lantern, Levi got kitchen stuff, and Vin got a bandana and beef jerky. Tricky got his lion mane... which he is not too thrilled about, I can tell you. He was, however, happy about the leftover rice we put on his dog food this morning. You'd think it was roast turkey, as excited as he got.

We just took some muffins out of the oven. We'll eat one and take the rest to Mairead's brother's house to share with them. They're blueberry cheesecake, and just to be mischievous, we put four chocolate chips in each one after we put the batter in the tin. Where do I get these ideas?

I'm eager to get on with reading Sandy's book, but for now it's fun to be involved in the festivities. Tomorrow we will open stockings and then have Christmas dinner with friend Kitsune's family. Looking forward to that.

/'*

It felt so good to make kids on Mairead's plane happy with snow! OK, so it wasn't real snow... it was snow-machine snow. But they loved it. They were laughing and playing in it, scooping it up and piling it on the baby's head. We used up a fair bit of juice, but it was worth it. Most of the kids took a turn pushing the button and telling me where to aim the spray.

Before that, we gave gifts. The kids loved the movies we gave them. We watched one before lunch. After lunch we ate the muffins and played with the snow machine. Then we started the second movie, but that was one Mairead had already seen, and we left partway through.

Once we got home we watched an episode of _Wanted, Dead Or Alive._ It has the same actor that played Vin in his canon. Vin has had a similar experience to mine, in that this show is starting to meld with his past experience. In _The Magnificent Seven,_ when asked his name, Vin's answer was, "Make it Vin." He never said that was his real name. It's easy to see him having been a bounty hunter before he took up with Chris and the others.

Westerns are fun, I have to say. They all have different premises, but they all have certain stock episodes. Like, "the one with the rustlers that turn out to be people you've known and trusted a long time." Or, "the one with the proud, misunderstood Indian." Or, "the one with the rabid animal." Or, "the one with the persecuted beautiful woman." Etc. So, you have an idea of where the story is going, but you get to see how different characters act in that situation. Sure, it's formulaic, but... still fun.

/'*

Eren nominated himself to make dinner. He told Levi he wanted to do something for him (because Levi normally makes dinner), and Levi, being a good sport, is pretending he doesn't know that Eren wanted the kitchen to himself to make Levi's birthday cake. The rest of us are pretending we don't know that Levi knows. It's a game of deceit, but oddly enough, all because of a deep friendship between those two. Levi takes care of most of the tough things around here, and Eren wants the chance to do something nice for him. It really warms the heart.

I took dinner out to Levi and Vin so Eren could keep busy in the kitchen. Now we're waiting for the cake to bake. Then we'll have to let it cool before we can ice it. Also watching strange things on television. It helps pass the time. And writing this makes time pass, too... the scent of cake is starting to waft out from the kitchen. Almost time to take the pans out of the oven.

/'*

The cat is officially out of the bag. Levi and Eren went out on call, and in passing through the kitchen (as they normally do), Levi couldn't help but see the cake rounds cooling. So he can't pretend he doesn't know anymore, and therefore, we can't pretend we don't know that he knows. It was fun while it lasted! But we still get to decorate it, so maybe we can surprise him with that. Then we can have cake for breakfast. (Here I chuckle with gleeful anticipation.)

(half an hour later) And now we're done decorating it. Eren used icing to form his army division's insignia, I did my bit with blue swirls and snowflakes, and Vin did a red cowboy boot and horse head. We had to fill in a lot between the rounds with icing because of the way they fit together... that never seems to come out right. I don't know how people do it. Never claimed to be a baker, and neither did Eren. He's fretting about it not being the greatest cake, but I'm sure it will taste fine. And in my opinion, the more _Frosting_ , the better. Yeah, OK, I'm just asking for attention now.

/'*

I miss Pitch. I guess that sounds weird. It's just that I've learned so much more about him... I don't intend to go back until tomorrow night at least, but it's going to be hard to wait. There's so much I want to tell and ask him. And yet, part of me feels like I should wait longer for a lot of it. Wait until I have more of the whole picture. After all, Sandy is just about to properly come into the story, and everything could change in a moment, depending on what else I learn. Anyway, I feel like I want to see Pitch, and I think that's the same as missing him.

Again, Eren has been a great comfort to me. You probably wouldn't think it of him, but it doesn't take him long to start telling a friend "I love you." At the least, he usually tells each of us before we go to sleep. I gather that it started because he regrets not telling his mother before she died. But that's a very sad concept, and I don't do well with sad, so I won't dwell on it.

 **Sunday:**

Eren and Levi went out early this morning and came back with pumpkin cappuccino. After trying to sleep a little more, we got up and opened Mairead's and Tricky's stockings. Tricky got a backup for his dog halter along with lots of treats. Mairead got all the fun little knickknacks we found for her, along with loads of candy.

There were Batmobile Hotwheels, a baseball (she likes Hilts from _The Great Escape,_ who was also played by Vin's actor), a mini bottle of sparkling grape juice, a couple of little toys and a novelty pen. Oh yes, and one of those little "magic towels." It expands in water. It has Elsa and Anna on it. Don't start with the ship talk. I know all about that. And I've never met Elsa. Though I'm told she has visited here before. But that doesn't matter. Shut up.

Anyway, the cappuccino had gotten cold so we put ice in it and had it with cookies. That's breakfast on Christmas Day. That and candy. You have to eat fun things on Christmas. I mean seriously, no one eats healthy on Christmas—that would take all the fun out of it. But Toothiana has made me conscious enough to brush my teeth after, even though I'm pretty sure I don't need to. My teeth seem to stay white like my hair.

We showed Levi his cake and enjoyed watching him react to our design. He did manage to blow out the three candles we put on it (in one breath), and ate a slice without gagging. So I call that a success.

I noticed Santa didn't seem to take any milk or cookies last night. Eren said maybe he just doesn't exist in this world. But I say, maybe we just didn't believe enough. It doesn't usually hurt a person to believe in something that's not real, but in this case it could hurt to disbelieve something that is real, you know? Anyway, I'm itching to visit home more than ever.

We've got a little gift for the next-door neighbor, even though they have not been very friendly to us. 'Tis the season and all that. It's about time for us to leave to hang out with Kitsune and her family. I hope I can post this while it's still Christmas. Either way, I wish joy and peace to all of you.

/'*

Well, there's not a whole lot to tell about our day, except that we got unexpected presents from Kitsune's folks. Her mom got us movie gift cards and candy. Her stepmom gave us socks and a scarf.

When we got home, there was a gift on our mailbox for us from the neighbor. It was just candy and popcorn, but to be fair, all the stores are closed on Christmas day, so it's not like they could run out and shop for us. It was really nice—we didn't expect them to give anything back.

It was also nice to get some goodwill, because we all felt pretty heavy on the way home. It wasn't just post-holiday letdown—it was mainly anxiety. We had so much contact with strangers and near-strangers at Kitsune's mom's house that Mairead was pretty stressed out by the time we left. We almost didn't go on to her dad's house, but we didn't really want to go home to the empty house for the rest of Christmas day. Her dad is a cool person and all, but a bit intimidating. What with one thing and another, Mairead ended up feeling more than a little peopled-out.

On the way home, the dam finally broke, going through Eren as it usually does. He cried hard for a minute there—I don't think I'd ever seen someone cry three tears on the same side so fast that the first one wasn't all the way down his face by the time the third one left his eye. The good thing is, once he'd cried a bit, we all felt a little better.

This is what it's like to have a syndrome or a disorder, I'm finding out... See, sometimes people tease Mairead and she doesn't get it. Either she can't tell if they're joking, or the joke is so simple or so feeble that she can't comprehend why anyone would bother making it in the first place. We all make bad jokes, but they're not bad to us because they fit our particular taste in humor. But, for example, if someone teases Mairead in a very serious voice, it sounds like they are criticizing or insulting her. Then, even after she realizes it was a joke, the hurt doesn't go away. It eats at her. Most people would be able to move on, and she tries, but she can still feel it. The term sarcasm comes from root words that mean "tearing flesh," and that is just how it feels to her.

She knows they don't mean to hurt her. They would probably be horrified to learn how it affects her. The thing is, she's only just figuring this kind of thing out, and when it happens, she can't articulate how she feels. She doesn't know how to ask people to stop in a way that won't upset them or make them think she's just weird. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about if you have any kind of social disorder. If you don't, you can't possibly imagine how it feels. However, you can help by keeping an open mind. If you pay attention and don't jump to conclusions, you can at least keep the situation from getting worse.

Anyway, the dog hadn't gotten into any major mischief while we were gone, so other than Christmas being over, things are all right again. And it looks like I'll have this chapter up before midnight, so that's a plus.

Christmas is a wonderful time of year, but I think even I may be funned-out at this point. I'll enjoy all the stuff with everyone as time goes on, but I'm kind of looking forward to things going back to normal. And I'm definitely looking forward to visiting my world again soon. Happy holidays!

* * *

 _Thanks for reading my "special episode." Comment or question if you can spare the time and I'll write more when I'm able. ~Jack  
_


	14. Bedtime For Pitch

_Sorry it's been so long... I've been busy and tired and I also had to let Eren write up his little Christmas one-shot (go read that, too!). But I'm finally back, and stuff is happening._

* * *

 _This one starts off with some direct book tie-ins, so you might do better to read the books before you read this. Skipping sections would be quite awkward at this point._

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Bedtime For Pitch

Among the many questions rattling around in my mind, three rose to the surface as I flew back to my world: How had Bunny and Sandy taken North's news? Did Pitch really have a new set of baby teeth, and did that mean Tooth would come visit him when he lost them? And, biggest of all, was my friend the Man in the Moon still that friend I had known all those years ago? Was it really like the books—me his guardian when he was just a baby?

I had found that I could do the time-adjustment thing without Leo's help now, but my other thoughts were too urgent for me to take the time to celebrate this accomplishment. The moon was on the horizon and I skidded to a stop in a shower of sleet, staring up at it.

"Mim?" I said quietly. I swallowed and spoke a little louder. "Are you there? Do you see me? Do you remember me... my old friend?"

I couldn't see or hear or feel any kind of response. I felt kind of silly, but I also had tears starting to form. "You haven't said anything since you told me my name. Can't you just say something? Send me a sign—send down a moonbeam at least!" I put my arm out, as if reaching for something the moon was supposed to offer to me.

And a little light did stir... not from the moon, but from my staff. It crackled along the wood in a blue, sputtering line like a little fireworks display until it reached the tip and jumped off, landing in my hand before circling my head.

 _You is my Nightlight boy,_ the light said in an otherworldly language that I found I understood perfectly.

"Moonbeam!" I exclaimed. I sank to my knees on the ground. "Have you been with me this whole time?"

 _Ofs course._

"Why didn't you say anything?"

 _You wasn't ready._

The tears were on my face now.

 _Don't lose those,_ the moonbeam warned me. _Precious useful, those are._

I gathered the tears off my face and held them out. Moonbeam slipped in and out of them as I held them up to the tip of my staff. They seemed to fuse into the wood and disappear.

 _Safe for later,_ Moonbeam said. _Big help._

"Thank you, dear Moonbeam," I said. "I forgot you for a long time. I'm sorry."

 _Don't be sorry. You wants to help._

"Yes." I realized that Moonbeam, riding around in my staff, must have observed everything I did and heard all my plans..

 _Be most careful. Katherine had a pity spot for the Pitch, too._

"I know... but the last book isn't out yet, so I don't know how all that ended," I lamented. "I searched online. I couldn't even find a sure release date..."

 _Doesn't matter much. Can fix that later._

"Yeah, I guess so." I smiled at my staff as the moonbeam's glow faded. I knew he would be there if I need him. Now I wanted to see Pitch.

/'*

I called to Pitch as I hurried down the dark passageway. When I pushed the door open I saw him crawling out from under the bed. He looked a little different somehow, but I hardly noticed because so much else was on my mind. I wanted to tell him everything I had learned, and about Christmas, but I knew I could never tell him about the other world. It would be too easy for him to become greedy for a new place to conquer.

He could tell I was in a good mood though, and looked up at me expectantly.

"I missed you," I said.

"Did you tell North about me?" he asked.

"Yeah." I knelt beside him on the floor. "He took it pretty well. And he's going to tell Bunnymund and Sandy, if he hasn't already."

Pitch looked down in silence a moment before suggesting, "Maybe he's trying to trick you."

"No way," I answered. "I know him too well for that. He wasn't trying to trick me. He trusts me because I believe in you. So does Jamie, and more will soon."

"I don't know... I liked being the Nightmare King."

"I didn't say you can't anymore. But you can be so much more than that, Pitch."

He leaned back against the bed and I noticed what was different: his messy hair now seemed to more or less go all in the same direction. I couldn't resist reaching over to fluff it. He huffed and raked his hands through it until it all went back again.

"Hey, Pitch," I said, leaning back beside him. "Do you have baby teeth now?"

After a moment of quiet he said, "I guess."

"Can I see?"

"No."

"Fine."

He yawned, putting a hand over his mouth—probably more to keep me from seeing his teeth than out of politeness.

"Are you tired?"

He nodded.

"Do you need to sleep?"

He crossed his arms. "Never used to," he complained.

"I know the feeling," I muttered. "Well, if you need to sleep, that's ok. Hey, I could even tell you a bedtime story."

"I don't need a _bedtime story,"_ he said, sounding extremely disdainful.

"Fine. But you should go brush your teeth. If you want Tooth to bring you a gift when you lose those things, you need to take good care of them."

He snorted. But then he looked up at me. "You don't think she actually would."

"Sure, why not?"

"'Cause she hates me."

"No, she doesn't."

"Oh, yes she does," he insisted. "She always has."

"Then it's time to change her mind," I retorted. "Go brush your teeth. And floss."

"Ugh."

"Go on."

"You're not the boss of me, Jack Frost."

This kind of thing went on for a while, but in the end, he did clean his teeth and get into a black sort of romper that was trying to be a nightgown. I managed not to comment on it and pulled back the bed covers for him.

He shook his head. "I'm not sleeping in there," he said.

"Oh, come on. This is where normal people sleep."

"Not me. When you're up there, you can't see what's down there," he said, pointing at the floor under the bed.

This argument also went on for some time, until I told him rather loudly, "There's nothing under there!"

"Prove it," he retorted.

I lifted the edge of the covers. "See, there's..." I froze, dropping the covers. Gingerly, I reached down again and looked under the bed.

There, in the extra-dark dimness that resides only under beds in already-dark rooms, was the shadowy but unmistakable form of a fearling. Nightmares are almost pretty in their way... fearlings are not remotely so.

It was a lifetime since I had seen one, (four or five lifetimes, actually) let alone this close. My heart was pounding. I tried to keep my fear under control.

"Toldja," I heard Pitch say.

"Stay back there," I said in a low voice. I lowered my staff toward the fearling.

Suddenly, it lashed out at me, and I had to call on my resolve to keep from shrinking back from it. _Together,_ I thought.

 _Together,_ the moonbeam answered.

With the help of my friend, I thrust my staff forward as the fearling came toward me. The tears gleamed on my staff as we ran the fearling through. It seemed to shred apart and dissipate in ribbons like smoke.

I leaned on my staff, breathing hard.

"Was it fun?" Pitch asked.

I glanced back at him. "No... not really," I said. "I didn't have much time to make it fun."

"You're more like your old self."

I realized he was right. Putting kids to bed and scaring away the monster under the bed—that was more like Nightlight. "Maybe I am," I said. "I'd like it if you were like your old self... from back in the Golden Age, I mean."

He stalked across the room and got into the bed. "I'm going to sleep now," he declared. "Go away."

"You sure you don't want a story?"

"No. Go away."

I was disappointed that he was still going to so much trouble to keep me at a distance. I stubbornly stayed long enough to tug the covers up around his chin. "Good night, Pitch. I'll come back soon."

"Whatever."

I went out to the hallway and stood there for a bit, peeking in at him.

 _Nightlight,_ said the moonbeam.

I smiled a little. "Nightlight, bright light," I whispered. "Sweet dreams I bestow. Sleep tight, all night. Forever I will glow."

Moonbeam glowed faintly in my staff as I walked back up the hall.

When I got out of Pitch's lair, I flew up above it a ways and looked at the moon going in and out of the clouds. I wondered what Bunny and Sandy thought of the situation, assuming North had told them about it.

I flew higher, until the trees were tiny below me. I could see a few tendrils of golden sand in the distance and I knew that Sandy was hard at work, keeping away the bad dreams of the children whenever the moonlight couldn't reach them.

Then I noticed a curving line of sand branching out from the others. It bent around trees, over small buildings and rippled across a field, getting closer and closer. Finally, it wove through the woods and down the hole into Pitch's lair.

I grinned. Clearly Sandy wasn't holding a grudge. I could be sure Pitch would be safe from the fearlings and nightmares while I was gone.

I decided this had been a rewarding enough visit. I wasn't crazy about the idea of talking to Bunnymund... not just yet. I started back for this world, looking forward to helping the guys bring in the new year.

/'*

I think it was Friday night, the 30th... Levi and Eren went out on a call and I decided to stay home. I was tired again and just wanted some peace and quiet. About two hours after they left, I got the strangest feeling. I felt like Eren wanted me. Then I could hear him calling me.

I hurried out of the house (on our plane, of course, because Mairead was with them) and flew up into the sky. I don't think I flew the whole way... I sort of teleported or something. Anyway, I ended up in some town in the mountains where Levi and Eren were about to head back home again.

"Look, Jack!" Eren exclaimed as soon as I got there. "It's snowing!"

I looked up, and sure enough, it was just starting. I was so happy to see it on Mairead's plane for once. And it was a perfect night for it, too. I don't remember what I said, but I was babbling about it for a while, I guess, almost crying with joy. Of course, Eren made fun of me a little, but I didn't care.

We had to head back then, even though I wanted to just stay there and play in the snow. We had a long drive ahead of us and had to be ready in case we were needed again.

Eren said that since the sky was only partly cloudy and you could see the stars, the snow flying under it looked like shooting stars or comets—"Or is Jack making it look like that?"

It wasn't me, but it made me happy that he said that. It's so frustrating not being able to make snow on this plane. I can make it on ours, no problem so far. Oh, well. It was nice.

We had kind of a bad day the next day, but that night was better. We watched movies with friends, had pizza and counted down to the new year.

Levi is the one who pestered me into finally finishing this chapter. He feels guilty about not finishing his own story and he told me that the longer I leave it, the harder it will be to continue. Plus, I got another review today, so that encouraged me! It really is like seeing believers on the globe.

* * *

 _Give me some more faith-writing power! ^^ Comments, please.  
_


	15. An Egg And an Igloo

_Thanks so much for reading and commenting... and for coming back! The start of this chapter was written near the beginning of January 2017. Then stuff happened and I took a hiatus. I apologize. And I explain below.  
_

* * *

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: An Egg And an Igloo

An idea had been bugging me for a while: What happened to the tooth that Toothiana punched out of Pitch's mouth? It was way at the back of my mind until the topic of Pitch's new baby teeth came up, and then last night it turned kind of urgent. I was worried, so I made a trip to see Toothiana, arriving just a few hours after I had left the last time.

I was still anxious when I arrived at her place. "Tooth," I called. "I need your..." I trailed off, seeing none other than E. Aster Bunnymund sitting beside Tooth.

"'Ello, Frostbite," Bunny said. "Surprised to see me, are we?"

"Uh... a little," I said.

Tooth smiled at me. "What did you need, Jack?"

"Um..." I looked from Bunny to Tooth. "Can I talk to you alone?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck nervously.

"You don't have to worry," she said. "North already told him everything."

"Well, ok, but... it's just about a tooth."

She immediately came alive with interest, flying up to me. "A tooth? Whose tooth?"

I lowered my voice. "Pitch's. You remember the one you punched out of his mouth? And then the nightmares chased him away..."

Her face turned a little sheepish. "Oh, yeah... that."

"Well, whatever happened to it?" When she didn't answer right away, I went on, "See, I got to thinking: I don't know if grown-up teeth work the same way, but that one might hold some bad memories, you know? And in the wrong hands, it could be used to really hurt him."

She tapped her mouth with one slender fingers. "I suppose it might," she said. "I guess I can try to find it. It would make good leverage in case he goes wrong again."

"I don't like the idea of holding something over his head," I said. "I think if anyone keeps it, it should be Pitch."

"But supposing he uses it to get those bad memories back and it turns him back how he was?"

I couldn't deny that it was a possibility. "If we never trust him with anything, he'll never become trustworthy."

Tooth's face softened a little as my words sank in. "I'll try to find it," she said. "After that... then we'll see."

She went back to Bunny, who didn't seem to have caught much of our conversation.

"Still don't trust me?" Bunny asked flippantly, though the droop of his ears made me think he might be a little miffed.

"It's not that..." I said, blushing a little because... it kind of _was_ that.

"It's ok," he said. "Doesn't matter in the scheme of things. Here," he added casually, holding out a chocolate egg to me. "I made this for you."

"For me?" Touched, I took the egg and nibbled on it. It was rich chocolate, not ordinary milk, but not really dark enough to be called "dark chocolate," and inside was this mint cream with a hint of nutmeg or something that made it taste like eggnog. I quickly polished it off. "Oh, wow, that was so good," I exclaimed.

Bunny looked quite proud of himself.

"It was just what I like... do you have any more?"

He chuckled. "One per customer, Jackie."

I sighed with a regretful smile. "Well, thanks. I'm going to go back and... see Pitch."

"Is it true he's a little tyke now?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Bunny chuckled again. "Tell 'im hello from me, eh?"

"I will. Hey, if you want... you might come up with a chocolate for him. That would be a challenge, wouldn't it?"

At first he looked ruffled, but when I said "challenge," his demeanor changed. "I'll think about it," he said.

/'*

Pitch had pulled the covers up over his head, even though very little light made its way down to his room.

"Time to wake up, Pitch," I said.

"No. I know it's daytime," came a muffled voice from inside the mound of covers.

"Well, yeah... of course."

"Sunlight hurts. Staying here."

I remembered Pitch not being able to bear the sunlight, but I hadn't noticed it bothering him on our trip to build the snow fort. "Well, we can do something inside. Come on, get up."

"Check under the bed," he ordered.

I did. "There's really nothing there this time," I said. "Did you dream last night? Sandy sent you a good dream. I saw."

Pitch peeked out from under his covers. "Truly?"

"Yeah. Don't you remember?"

He sat up slowly. "Is that what that was?" he murmured. "I... haven't dreamed for so long..."

"I saw Bunny today, too," I said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "He said to say hello to you. So, everyone knows now. They're all willing to try again. Maybe we can all be friends."

He looked away from me with a skeptical frown.

"It's possible," I insisted. "You do still want a family, don't you?"

His frown lost some of its severity, but he didn't look up. "I tried to have a family... tried lots of times. It always ended badly."

It was a very sad thing to say, and more so because I knew exactly what he meant. His wife and daughter were lost to him; then he had tried to replace family with a horde of darkling followers. Then he had tried to force me myself, Nightlight at the time, to become his fearling prince. And then Katherine his fearling princess. What happened then? I couldn't remember. Those memories were in a book not yet published. At any rate, Pitch had suffered many disappointments when it came to his family and trying to rebuild or replace it.

"If it doesn't end, it can't end badly," I said, putting my arms around him. He was stiff and uncooperative, but he didn't say anything. "I know you have every reason to worry that it won't work out. But I'm not giving up on you. Not ever again. I promise."

"Promises are easy," He mumbled. "Keeping them, not so much."

I sat up again. "Yeah, you're right. But I can't prove that you can trust me if you never try, right?"

He gave a minute shrug. "I guess."

"So," I said, rubbing my hands together, "What do you want to do?"

He thought for a moment and then said, "I want you to build an igloo around the bed at the entrance to my lair."

I laughed. "I can probably do that... Why?"

"To keep more of the light out."

I sobered. "OK... but it's already so dark down here."

"I can use firelight." He peeked up at me. "And... you."

My smile came back. "Sure. I'll even bring you a nightlight for when I'm not here. Would you like that?"

Reluctantly, he nodded.

"Cool. So, I'll go start on your igloo. It's going to melt, of course, because it's not cold enough up there... but I'll try to build it so it'll last a while, and I'll ask the North Wind to keep some cold air on it."

"Fine." He got out of bed and pulled his fairy-feather jacket on over his romper instead of changing.

He followed me most of the way to the entrance, but once we were in sight of the circle of sunlight shining down from the surface, he stopped. "You go ahead," he said. "I'll stay here."

"All right."

I went ahead and got to work on the igloo, but I frequently sent a little gust of wind down laden with large snowflakes. I sneaked down to have a look at him after a while and saw him trying to catch the snowflakes in the air. I grinned and went back up to finish my work. So far, so good. Next, I decided I should ask Jamie to help me introduce Pitch to some more kids. It was time to get some believers back.

* * *

I left off writing there, fully intending to pick it up again right away. But things were both busy and melancholy in this world, the one where I'm writing. You see, we were fast approaching an important Anniversary: the reason Levi came here in the first place.

Levi has written about this incident elsewhere, so I'll make it brief. Last year, January 12, I believe, a friend of Mairead's died. The next night she had a very stressful experience she couldn't handle, so Levi came to this world to help her. Eren followed a couple of days later. This year, Mairead became more and more sad as the day approached, and we all felt it.

The night of the 12th, we lit a candle and all of us said a few words to this friend, even though we never knew her personally. There were many tears shed. The depression lasted a long, long time. Mairead didn't really start to come out of it until the approach of another nerdy event. This same event last year was the one the others wrote about in the piece titled "Attack Con Titan." So there was a lot of excitement in preparing for that. Alexander, aka "Sasha", came back for a while, and we have another new friend: Jack from Jack And the Cuckoo Clock Heart. To differentiate, the others sometimes call me Frost now, and sometimes call him "Jack M." because he has taken his surrogate mother's name as his last name, Madeleine. Sometimes, when Eren is speaking to us both, he just says "Jacks."

Sasha stayed through Jack's birthday (which happened to fall on Easter this year), and he left the next night, I think.

We're preparing to change residence as well, so there has been a lot of stress over that. And don't get me started on Tax Season. Mairead has a huge irrational fear of doing her taxes. Still, she bravely determined to get them done by the end of February. Eh... I think it was more like early or mid-March. But that's still sooner than usual, I gather.

We haven't moved yet; we're not entirely sure where we're going. But we're going in like two months. That doesn't seem like enough time to move. It's so scary I'm not going to talk about it anymore right now. I just wanted to give you some explanation, because it has been far, far too long since I posted. I'm going to gather my thoughts, reread what I wrote and try to catch you up on what went on in the other world during this time.

You see, even though I haven't been writing, that's because of everything going on _here._ I have still been very active in going back and forth between worlds, so there's a lot to tell. So, this is Aprill 22... We'll see how long it takes me to actually get this up.

* * *

News before I go on: Expected publication date for my book (the novel about me, I mean) is October third. That's over five months away! I don't know how I'll stand it. I wish I could manipulate time here and jump ahead... but things don't work that way in this world. Anyway, we're considering pre-ordering it to make sure we don't have to wait. We just need to get moved to our new address before we do that. The book is reasonably priced, too.

I've re-read all that I wrote to remind myself of what I've told already and where I left off. The igloo was a lot of fun. As soon as the sun went down, I got Pitch to come up and sit in it with me, and then we started building other things out of snow: snow bunnies and horses and we made a snowman to look like North, complete with a plate of cookies. It was very warm, though, so it all started melting pretty quickly. I had to keep re-freezing everything. Finally, he told me to just let it melt. He seemed sorry to see it go, but he also seemed like he had had a good time.

"Before I go, will you let me see your teeth?" I asked with a disarming smile.

He looked annoyed, but he said, "Fine," and opened his mouth.

"Smile so I can get a good look."

"Uh-uh," he said, mouth still hanging open. He peeled his lips back in a sort of grimace; that was as good as I was going to get.

They were definitely baby teeth. I smiled. "OK, you can close. Are any of them loose?"

"Mm..." He started moving his tongue around, feeling his teeth. "Mayve thith one," he lisped, fingertip on one of his lower front teeth. "Not much though."

"Cool. Well... I'm gonna get going. Do you want me to take you back down?"

He seemed to consider for a moment, but then he crossed his arms. "No. I can go by myself."

"All right." I ruffled his hair before he could stop me. "Good night."

He huffed and ran his hands through his hair. "Night," he muttered.

* * *

 _I hope the next one won't take me as long, but the will to write is a tricky and sometimes elusive thing. I'm sure it will help if I hear from you, though. 3 ~Jack_


	16. Light And Gloom

_Wow, it's been a long time... I'm really sorry. Let me see if I can catch you up.  
_

* * *

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Light And Gloom

I kind of faded out of Mairead's plane a bit... I was there when I was wanted, but I started slipping away more and more. It's not that I didn't like it here... I just felt more of a pull from my own world.

I took Pitch to see Jamie again. There was a little awkward moment because Jamie knew who Pitch was now, but but it didn't last long. I love that about kids: the ability to bounce back quickly. They take everything at face value and always live in the moment.

I did my best to choose a visiting time when Jamie didn't have school waiting for him, and his mom wouldn't be wondering where he was. We went to one of the less popular corners of the park and did some tree climbing. Soon, one of Jamie's friends found him and wanted to play. Jamie thought this kid was "nice," which in child-ese means "not stupid or selfish enough to try to exploit supernatural beings." So, he introduced this kid, Byron, to me. In turn, when I was also convinced he was "nice," I introduced him to Pitch.

Byron had some misgivings about Pitch, but they didn't last too long, and soon we were all carousing together like long-time friends. We gathered little twigs and dropped them on people as they walked by. You got five points for hitting someone, and ten if they felt it hit them, but if they looked up and saw us (well, if it was a grown-up, it was a given that they'd see only the two mortal boys) then you got zero. I don't know why I didn't think of this game sooner. It's really fun. By the time we were done for the day, another boy and a girl had joined us.

The kids mostly didn't know what to make of Pitch, but they were starting to believe in him, and that was what he needed at the moment. It was a good start. And Pitch must have been having fun, because he only complained about being outside in the daylight on the way to the park. After that, not a single whine. Of course, he was wearing a black cloak (which did nothing to put the kids at ease), so I'm sure that and the fact that it was partly cloudy helped.

His good mood lasted on the way home, too. It was starting to get dark, and he was acting much more confident than before. He still didn't talk much, but it wasn't the grouchy silence he'd been giving me lately. I felt pretty happy.

"Hey, I almost forgot," I said, when we were almost back to Pitch's lair. "I brought you something." I had taken a duplicate of my nightlight from our plane in Mairead's world. I held it out to him.

"Is it..."

"The nightlight I promised you."

"Is this a regular human-made nightlight?"

"Yeah..."

"I don't know if it will work. My place isn't wired up."

"But... you had that lamp..."

"Magic."

"Oh." I did that frown-to-the-side thing... it's a thinking face. A problem-solving face. "Well, we can try magic-ing this one," I said. "Come on."

After I cleared Pitch's room of nightmares, I pulled out the table his lamp was sitting on and saw that it was plugged into the wall. Like, literally. No socket. I pulled the cord out, and there was no hole of any kind in the wall.

"Hm, that's nifty," I muttered. I pressed the prongs of the nightlight plug into the same spot in the wall, and, with a glow from my staff, it seemed to stick into the wall quite nicely. "Lend some light," I whispered to my Moonbeam.

Moonbeam slipped into the little light fixture and it glowed blue, brighter than its counterpart in this world, with lots more little spikes of light coming out and making a pattern on the wall. Then Moonbeam returned to my staff, but the nightlight stayed on.

"There we go. You like it?"

Pitch approached it slowly and very gingerly stuck a finger into the nightlight's glow, retracting it quickly as if he had been burned. Then he looked at his finger and found that he was perfectly fine. "It's all right," he declared. I knew he liked it.

/'*

I hung out in that world for a couple of months, building the confidence of the kids who believed in Pitch, and very slowly drawing a more social side out of him. Toothiana hasn't found Pitch's missing tooth yet. In the meantime, Mairead and her roommate went through a move. Then there was her birthday and somewhere after that, I learned what was devastating news to me: my book was going to be published in October... of _next_ year, not this one. I don't know if the date got pushed back or I read it wrong the first time, but I was crushed. Possibly more depressed than I've been since coming to this world in the first place.

With encouragement from the others, I decided to write to my author, Mr. William Joyce. I told him everything as succinctly as I could: about my situation here, my desolation at learning how long I had to wait for my story... and then I asked him for something to tide me over until the book comes out. Not a spoiler, you understand. Just a word of encouragement from the man who is arguably my father in this world.

The first time, I definitely had the address wrong; it returned unopened. The second time, I found what I think may have been an accurate address for his actual place of residence... but I still haven't heard back. Soon, I'll probably make a third attempt, this time going through his publisher. I feel so lost, and I'm just sure that he can give me a little comfort while I wait to learn the rest of my story. Who I really am.

At Halloween, Mairead cosplayed Jack M. and showed his canon movie to some friends. Then, Thanksgiving week, a new devastation struck: Monday we learned that her car's transmission was damaged and would need replacing, something that would cost almost as much as a new car. And Tuesday, her computer crashed for the final time and refused to restart. Talk about taking away your appetite for Thanksgiving dinner.

To make a long story short, we have a different car and computer now, but very little money. On top of all this, Mairead's roommate is refusing to pay her share of the rent or utility bills. We are scrambling to find a solution, the most attractive one being to have a friend take over the roommate's lease, but nothing is settled yet. Expenses are coming up faster than our income, even though we hold two jobs. Mairead is legitimately afraid of developing an ulcer, though she's a bit young for that. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil, but I think the lack of it may take a close second. It's sure causing us a lot of anxiety, something Mairead never needs more of.

Ever an escapist, Mairead binge-watched an old TV show to take her mind off things: Due South. It's about a Canadian Mountie stationed at the consulate in Chicago. As a result of having too much real-life junk to deal with, and of loving the quirky show, we got three new drop-ins: constable Benton Fraser, detective Ray Vecchio, and detective Stanley "Ray" Kowalski. Fraser and Kowalski ended up staying longer than we expected... in fact, they're still here, and have been for over a week, maybe two or so. Jack M. has faded a bit lately, but I'll never let him fade away completely. If it seems like he won't be able to stay here any longer, I'm definitely going to take him back to my world to live. I think he'll be happy there.

Now, with Christmas approaching, Mairead just saw my canon movie for the second time, and silly though it may sound, it made me miss Pitch. She dressed up like him to attend her friend's movie night, and while we were doing the hair and makeup, I could feel Pitch trying to "drop in" on us, hovering on the edge of this world. Levi warned me to keep him out and I managed to, but it was difficult. I felt bad for him. He's so curious about where I've been spending my time lately, and Mairead trying to get into character to go with her costume nearly opened a door for him. I'm sure he'll have some questions the next time I see him.

I don't think he should know about this world... not yet anyway. Either I need to get to the point where I trust him more, or I need the rest of my story to know if it's safe to bring him here. His story is intertwined with mine. I'm certain that I will always be part of his, and I think it likely that he will always be a part of mine.

And I kind of hope so.

* * *

 _Sorry it was a little short, but thank you for being patient. So much depressing stuff has been happening, it's hard to get up the enthusiasm to write.  
_


End file.
